Democracy in Moldova can be developed and ensured by empowering women. For the purpose, the state should ensure a number of services for women from different groups. The suggestions were formulated in the second public forum “Partnership for an Inclusive and Prosperous Moldova: Women Matter!”, IPN reports.
According to the statistics presented in the forum, the women in Moldova hold 19% of the seats in Parliament and 17% of the posts on the local and municipal councils. This is under the international
standards and commitments made by Moldova. The migrant women face adaptation problems. Six in ten women who return from abroad do not manage to find employment. In the country, each sixth woman was subject to physical violence at least once, while those infected with HIV do not benefit from medical services. 70% of the women with disabilities are vulnerable to any type of abuse, while each second girl of Roma ethnicity does not attend primary school.
The participants in the forum said it is necessary to work out special programs for engaging women older than 50 in volunteering programs. Also, medical services should be developed for women infected with HIV and excluding discrimination against these in the medical system.
Estonian Minister of the Environment Mati Raidma, who is in Chisinau on an official visit, told the meeting that the number of women who entered Parliament as a result of the last parliamentary elections held in Estonia increased. The Estonians also voted to be represented by three men and three women in the European Parliament. To promote the women in Estonia, there was created the women’s trade union that includes all the woman MPs, regardless of the party they represent.
The forum was organized by the UN Office in Moldova. UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova Dafina Gercheva said the woman in Moldova must understand that they can make themselves heard only if they unite.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which assessed the fulfillment of the commitments to empower women and to ensure gender equality in Moldova in October 2013, reiterated the persistence of patriarchal attitudes and deeply rooted stereotypes concerning the role of women and men in society.