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This country profile was developed by the United Nations Population Fund in Armenia as part of the UNFPA Global Programme to Prevent Son Preference and the Undervaluing of Girls: Improving the sex ratio at birth in select countries in Asia and the Caucasus. The programme is funded by the EU and implemented by UNFPA in partnership with the governments, civil society and academia in six countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Georgia, Nepal and Viet Nam. This is the first global programme of its kind, it works with partners to gather information about the root causes of this harmful practice and to raise up the value of girls and women. The programme is managed by the Gender, Human Rights and Culture Branch of the Technical Division of UNFPA Headquarters in cooperation with the UNFPA Regional Offices of Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe & Central Asia. 

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Since the 1980s a growing number of countries have witnessed a rise in their sex ratios at birth beyond the biological norm of 105 male per 100 female births. The trend started in Asia (India, South Korea and China) and spread to the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and parts of Eastern Europe (Albania, Montenegro) in the 1990s, and more recently to countries like Vietnam and Nepal.

Behind this phenomenon lay entrenched son preference and undervaluing of girls. National and international organizations have become increasingly alerted and a
number of countries have introduced laws, policies and programmes to prevent the further demographic masculinization, which will affect populations for generations to
come. However, little is known about policies and their efficacy in curbing skewed sex ratios at birth. In 2016, the first Global Programme to Prevent Son Preference
and the Undervaluing of Girls was launched by UNFPA with the support of the European Union (EU) to improve the knowledge base and inform policies and
programmes to tackle gender-biased sex selection (GBSS). The present Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework was developed as part of this Global Programme.

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International experience shows that investing in early childhood care and development services is a vital component to ensure women’s access to the labour market, provide them with greater possibilities to achieve a work-life balance and ultimately contribute towards gender equality. The analysis of the development of ECEC policies in the EU between 2014 and 2017 and their impacts on FLFP and gender gaps shows that member states (some more successfully than others) undertook great efforts to boost ECEC enrolment, with the majority of countries achieving a continuous increase in ECEC provision. Concerning Armenia, a provision of efficient ECEC policies would not only be beneficial towards an increased FLFP but at the same time help in combating gender-biased sex selection by providing greater choice and more economic empowerment for women. As previous research has shown, the most important polices that need to be addressed in that matter are the ones concerning ECEC and FLFP. Armenia should thus boost its effort in designing, implementing and monitoring policies offering wide-spread and efficient ECEC provision. The following analysis of ECEC in the EU can serve as guidelines towards well-functioning ECEC policies.

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This document was produced by ICHD with the financial assistance of the European Union in the frame of the “Global Program to Prevent Son Preference and the Undervaluing of Girls”, implemented by UNFPA. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union and/or UNFPA.

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