Women in the Republic of Moldova suffer daily because of sexist and denigrating messages and the state institutions do not take action, said the chairwoman of ALDE Moldova Arina Spătaru. According to her, the police and the competent bodies that must penalize sexist speech overlook this phenomenon. Although she has repeatedly notified the police of offensive messages aimed at her in the public space, the law enforcement officers are procrastinating these cases.
The ALDE head noted that she has repeatedly been the target of sexist, offensive and discriminatory messages from Moldova politicians. Even though she notified the police of these cases, no case had an end result and this discourages other women from seeking justice.
“In our country, women suffer daily as a result of these ugly and denigrating messages. Sometimes the woman is put in the situation to ignore such cases. And I’ll tell you why. Because we have few stories when men who dared to adopt such behaviors were held accountable. For example, me. In my story regarding the fight against Shor, I turned to the police for help because a politician denigrated me in the public space. Nothing followed. The file is gathering dust in the drawers of the police. I had a sad story with Zinaida Popa, who has money to pay for live broadcasts, to hire lawyers to defend her interests, but that’s exactly how Zinaida Popa demeaned me. Unfortunately, the police have not done anything so far. I didn’t get an answer. I’m told that they cannot find Zina Popa. I’m told that they cannot find Dragoș Galbur, Igor Munteanu or anyone else. When we, the women, seek justice from the state institutions, they do absolutely nothing. We are told to wait for the decision of the Equality Council. But we have a sad story with Renato Usatyi, who just like other so-called politicians denigrated me in the public space. The Equality Council decided that Renato Usatyi should apologize publicly. Do you think he apologized? No, he didn’t,” said Arina Spătaru.
She called on all the women of the Republic of Moldova, who are victims of sexist speech, to make their experience public so that the offensive rhetoric against women is penalized. The ALDE head called upon the women who are afraid to report acts of sexual or verbal harassment to communicate their life stories to her.
“I call on all the women to show female solidarity. At least share this message. Because we, the opposition, no longer have access to national television, to televisions paid for with the money of the European, American people. But we have another salvation – the social media. I address all the women. Dear ladies, write to me by e-mail or call me on 069232190 and tell me your stories. These behaviors must be stopped, with the help of state institutions, but also with our help, of all the women who are ready to speak publicly about such actions. I promise you that I will be your defense shield,” said the chairwoman of ALDE Moldova.
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