Civil society hopes Merkel will speak about gender equality

The National Council of NGOs and a part of the members of the National Participatory Council (CNP) hope that German Chancellor Angela Merkel who comes to Chisinau today will include in her a speech a message to the Moldovan politicians regarding the importance of balanced participation of women and men in decision-making processes, Info-Prim Neo reports. CNP deputy chairman Antonita Fonari declared on Wednesday, August 22, at a press conference that the figure of the German Chancellor in European politics was an example that proved how women in high offices could work for the well-being of their countries. “The way Angela Merkel asserted herself and promoted women must be followed in Moldova, if the country wants to get in Europe. If we want to reach Europe, we need the best people in positions of power and the ‘best people’ means both men and women”, said Antonita Fonari. CNP member Arcadie Barbarosie declared that through this press conference civil society tried to draw the Chancellor’s attention to the situation regarding the promotion of women, gender equality and non-discrimination in decision-making processes. “We’ll ask her to help us make the politicians understand that the situation in this regard in Moldova isn’t good. I mean both the situation among political leaders and the situation as a whole. It’s important that women are appointed and promoted to political and managerial positions. The importance of this thing is demonstrated by other countries”, said Arcadie Barbarosie. Ecaterina Mardarovici, member of the National Council of NGOs, declared that over the last 10 years the image of the German Chancellor was that of a world leader, a gender sensible leader. “We, the NGOs and the Council, want to use this visit to raise the public and the political leader’s awareness about the importance of promoting women and of their participation in decision-making”, declared Ecaterina Mardarovici. The members of the two councils brought with them masks representing the faces of Moldovan political leaders. CNP chairman Sergiu Ostaf said the masks symbolized the male domination in political and public life, which was unfair. Sergiu Ostaf brought the example of the Cabinet, which contains only two women ministers, but, according to him, their joint value was more than the men’s contribution in the Executive. “We’re speaking about the importance of acknowledging some policies that would harness the human potential and provide behavioral models of women in political life”, explained Ostaf. The members of the National Council of NGOs and of the CNP sent a letter to the Chancellor asking her to include in her speech a message about the need for a balanced participation of men and women in the decision-making