There’s a quiet fire in the way Dr. Anush Gasparyan speaks. The kind that doesn’t rage but endures. Born and raised in Armenia, now living in India for over a decade, she’s built a career at the intersection of law, advocacy, and women’s empowerment. But her story is more than a resumé—it’s a journey of listening deeply, responding with purpose, and reimagining what protection, equity, and sisterhood can look like across borders.
“I’m the first in my family to live outside of Armenia,” she tells me, recalling the dwindling Armenian community in India today, now made up mostly of mixed-heritage families. Her own journey began through education, with legal studies that drew her toward international human rights and eventually led to a PhD focused on working women’s rights, comparing Armenian and Indian legal systems. What she discovered was both striking and sobering: despite progressive laws on paper, both countries suffer from the same gap: implementation. “We can define the problem, but what next?” she asks.
“In Armenia, the problem isn’t just a lack of policy-it’s a belief that gender equality is a Western idea that threatens the family. We have to reframe that entirely.”
Through her research and work with the National Human Rights Commission of India, Dr. Anush began to see that empowerment doesn’t start with grand gestures. It starts with dignity at work. With practical safety. With structures that make space for women not despite their caregiving roles, but because of them. “You can’t talk about women’s rights if you don’t first create financial independence,” she insists. Her organization, Work Inequality, addresses just that—advocating for inclusive workplace design, policy reforms, and leadership that supports rather than erases women’s needs.
But her focus isn’t limited to India. Dr. Anush is calling in the global Armenian community, especially in Australia, to collaborate. “We could create a triangle between India, Armenia, and Australia,” she says. “Each country brings different strengths: legal frameworks, community outreach, cultural context. Together, we could build something truly effective.” She envisions joint training programs, policy exchanges, and grassroots initiatives that are sensitive to Armenian values but rooted in global best practices.
“Feminism, for me, is not against men—it’s against violence, against silence, and against systems that devalue care.”
Importantly, her feminism is not reactionary—it’s restorative. She speaks not of replacing culture, but of returning to a truer version of it. “We’ve had queens. Decision-makers. Warriors. Somewhere along the way, patriarchy disguised itself as tradition,” she explains. For her, protection through restriction is not a value—protection through empowerment is.
In Armenia, she notes, sexual harassment is still widely misunderstood and even denied. “Many women don’t even know what they’re experiencing is wrong,” she shares, and that gap in awareness is mirrored by untrained systems such as judges, police, institutions ill-equipped to intervene. And yet, her tone remains hopeful. She sees the potential for change not just in top-down reform, but in community-based education. “You need public trust. That comes from years of showing up.”
At Kaitzak, we believe in showing up for stories like this: ones that cross borders and challenge binaries. Dr. Anush reminds us that change doesn’t always start in the spotlight. Sometimes it begins quietly, with one woman, in one country, daring to say: we can do better.
And she’s inviting us to join her.
Dr. Anush is launching a global pro bono training project focused on the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace. This initiative includes a 1‑hour session designed to raise awareness, share best practices, and provide clear guidance to participants worldwide.
If you wish to get involved:
Contact info@g100.in or visit www.g100.in/
