As the world’s candles appear in the night’s sky and the eyes of apartments slowly close, the notes of brooms scraping against asphalt create a lullaby that not many hear.
Three mothers of Yerevan, awake, hands cold, bundled in reflective jackets, sweep away the dust and garbage that the morning left for them. Their brooms go left and right swiftly, and their eyes follow every passing car and man, hoping they do not dance with danger today. This is the life of invisible women who clean Yerevan’s streets at night–alone, unappreciated and overlooked.
These women start their work at 11:00 p.m. and end at 5:00 a.m., cleaning the long, dusty streets in the darkness. After Yerevan Municipality replaced Sanitek as the city’s waste management company, sweepers saw a noticeable improvement in working conditions, although many issues still remained.
Today, women street sweepers’ stories illuminate the darkest corners of Yerevan like the sun, while raising larger questions about recognition, gender, and respect.
Under the yellow lights of Agatangeghos Street, in the coldness of the night, a 50-year-old woman, A.L., sweeps the pavement with the careful precision of someone tending a child. She has been working as a street sweeper for 26 years, starting when Sanitek required women sweepers to both sweep and haul trash, all for low pay. Currently, A.L. said, the work is slightly lighter, the pay is better, and the conditions are good.
But the night has its own risks tucked under its dark shadows. Now with a wide smile, she recalls the stories that once made her cry. She remembers being harassed on Sayat-Nova Avenue when a young, drunk man cursed and threatened her when she asked him to step aside to clean.
On another night, a different drunk man told A.L., that he wanted to take her home as a bride and started following her. She ran away, leaving her broom and tools there. “I was crying and thinking why I need to do this work at night, while people behave like that,” she added.
But as time went by, people changed. “Now the attitudes of people are good, but in the past, they were not,” eyes twinkled, as she continued. “Many times, I went home crying because they offended me.”
Mostly, the youth appreciate and thank her in the streets. She added that she feels extremely happy when people appreciate her work.
Street sweeping changes women’s lives significantly. “A woman must be at home, but when a woman both works at home and in the streets, she stops considering herself a woman. She becomes half-man,” she said.
Life gets hard, A.L. added, often requiring two or even three jobs to make ends meet. And still, after 26 years, every single time she returns, a broom in her hand, filling the barren streets with her liveliness despite the dangers that the nights hold.
As Agatangeghos Street starts to sleep, Vazgen Sargsyan Street prepares to listen to the proud notes of street sweeper T.L. ‘s broom. T.L., 60, originally from Charentsavan, travels 40 kilometers to Yerevan for her work. She has been a street sweeper for 20 years, besides having several other jobs at the same time.
The night has not been gracious to T.L. either. “On Baghramyan Street, I remember, a car hit me and drove away, then I was taken to the hospital, got five stitches,” she remembered. The driver’s relatives came to see her, yet the driver never did. She also says she is already used to drunk people, “If you are careful and do not provoke them, nothing will happen and they will go their way,” she added.
T.L. says that people’s attitudes toward street sweepers reflect their upbringing and virtues. She has heard people use many negative words about her. “I am not a prostitute, I am not a thief, I am just a street sweeper,” T.L. adds proudly. The only thing she wants is for people to appreciate the work she does for them.
The work of a street sweeper is hard, yet the only joy is the people who work with her. “For 7 years, we have been working together. We had good and bad days, but they are the reason I love this work,” said T.L., looking over her fellow sweepers with teary eyes. Although her family members tell her to quit, she says, “If I stay home, I will become sick.”
Several streets away from Vazgen Sargsyan Street, near Opera, is Mashtots Avenue, where one can hear the loud sounds of cars rushing left and right, and the quiet murmur of T.K. ‘s broom. She has been working for 5 years as a street sweeper and also works at Yerevan State University as a cleaner.
“Sanitek was not paying us well,” she said while cleaning and added, giggling, “now, the pay is higher, but the food’s price has also gone high, you know.” She has two kids for whom she does the hard work. “It is hard as a woman to be a street sweeper during the nights. I don’t have a husband,” she added, “but if my husband worked, that would be better, it is what it is.”
T.K. can’t work in another job as she has a hand injury, but in the past, she said, she worked in many places, including in Russia. As T.K. talks about her travels in different countries, her eyes fill with sparkles of sweet nostalgia. Yet, she loves her country dearly. She says that wherever I go, Armenia is my home,” and added. “Whatever I do for my Armenia is still not enough.”
The city, like a child, is nurtured by these mothers; it sleeps to the lullabies of their brooms every single night. They sweep through coldness, darkness, dangers and indifference. Next time you meet a street sweeper, stop for a moment. Thank them for the clean roads you walk on, as the appreciation will give them a well-deserved smile that will warm up their heart, keeping them warm and safe till dawn.
