Moldova, through the Millennium Development Goals, committed itself to make sure that the percentage of women in Parliament is at least 30% by 2015. In 2015, Moldova will have to report how this commitment was fulfilled. “If a concrete mechanism for ensuring the women’s representation is not introduced, there is no chance for Moldova to honor this commitment,” said Ecaterina Mardarovici, executive director of the Women’s Political Club 50/50.
Contacted by IPN, Ecaterina Mardarovici said the Association Agreement with the EU provides that equal chances must be ensured between women and men. If Moldova does not have at least 30% of women in Parliament, the Europeans will warn us that do not fulfill the commitments. “No additional funding is necessary. Only political will is needed on the part of the men, who hold most of the seats in Parliament. I hope we will avoid the creation of a political party consisting exclusively of women,” stated the director of the Women’s Political Club 50/50.
Ecaterina Mardarovici noted that the percentage of women taking part in decision-making is an indicator of the democracy level in a state. Owing to the Communists, the women represent 20% of the members of Moldova’s Parliament. The Democratic parties didn’t take steps to increase the women’s participation.
“Statistics show that the women are a majority social group as they represent 51% of the country’s population and 61% of the persons with higher education. It is a luxury for a country not to need to make use of the intellectual potential of women so as to have better decisions and laws by which to address the problems faced by women and men too because these problems are not considered a priority,” stated Ecaterina Mardarovici.
She made reference to the promises of politicians. “On March 8, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vlad Filat said he will imperatively demand adopting the law because he is convinced that we must have more women in decision-making bodies. The chairman of the Democratic Party Marian Lupu said publicly that he is for parity, while the leader of the Liberal Reformist Party Ion Hadarca, in meetings with representatives of civil society, promised that they will support the introduction of a women’s representation quota,” said Ecaterina Mardarovici.
She underlined that 59 countries have mechanisms for ensuring the women’s representation in the public and political life. The states that ensured gender equality, such as the Scandinavian countries, have the best social systems in the word and witness consistent economic development.
