In 2017, the gender pay gap in Moldova was 13.5%, which translates to a difference of 12,133 lei annually or an additional one month and 20 days needed to compensate that difference, as estimated by the Partnership for Development Center (CPD).
During a press conference to mark the Equal Pay Day, Alina Andronache, PR and advocacy specialist with the CPD, said: “This is a symbolical day that aims to raise public awareness about the existing wage gap between women and men. This day falls on a different date each year and differently in each country. And on this day the Partnership for Development Center comes forward with an analytical note presenting the differences in remuneration and what needs to be done about this situation”.
Natalia Covrig, CPD public policy analyst, noted that the wage gap has constantly risen in the last few years, almost doubling since 6,995 lei in 2017. The gap also increases with salary size, as shown by an analysis of the sectors employing more than 10,000 people. In the sectors where the average salary is 10,000 lei or greater, the gap soars to over 50%. “Why does this happen? First, because women are rarely employed in top executive jobs, hence the lower pay level. Another factor would be the fact that some companies have a discriminating salary policy. When employees are not told about the salary grid, there is room for violations”, says Natalia Covrig.
At least three measures should be taken, in her opinion. One is to ensure equal pay for equal work. While such a notion exists in our legislation, the term of equal pay is not defined clearly. Another measure would be to improve transparency of salary systems, in other words, employers should be obliged to disclose how much a certain job is paid. Last but not least, the Equality Council should have more powers to examine pay discrimination cases.
Rodica Ivașcu, CPD program director, spoke about the pension inequality. In 2017, the gender gap was roughly 3,800 lei or 19%, compared with 16.3% in 2012, which indicates an upward trend. Territorially, women pensioners in Chisinau are the worst affected, with a yawning gap of 8500 lei. According to Rodica Ivașcu, this is explained by the large variety of occupations in the capital city, compared to the rest of the country where people mainly work in agriculture.
The CPD also looked at the incomes and assets declared by the candidates running in the February 24 elections. It turned out that across the national constituency a male candidate had an average income of 335,000 lei, while a female candidate earned 178,000 lei, resulting in a 53% gap. In single-member constituencies the inequality is even more staggering, with male candidates earning 862,000 lei and women candidates just 274,000 lei. In addition to earning less, female candidates own fewer assets like property, cars and bank accounts, too.
