The Center "Partnership for Development "(CPD) welcomed the government's decision to approve the bill of a group of MPs. The bill provides for, when establishing retirement pensions, the period of childcare leave, assimilated to the contribution period, the calculation based on the average monthly salary at the date of calculation of the pension and not the minimum wage, as provided by the legislation in force.

In a press release, CPD said that it proposed these amendment in 2016 and 2018, considering that this provision is discriminatory against women, which constitute the absolute majority of beneficiaries of child care leave and significantly diminishes the value of their pension.

The CPD pointed out that pension gender gap is constantly increasing. In 2018 alone, the average pension of a woman at the national level was 22% lower than that of men, while in Chișinău municipality,  the gap constituted 33%. Under the conditions of a fair pension calculation system, in 2018 the women from Chișinău would have received an average of 11 430 lei more, while those outside the municipality, 5038 lei more.

According to the CPD, currently, about 70% of retirees are women. Thus, the CPD called on the Parliament and the government to approve amendments to the legal framework that will eliminate the discriminatory and unfair effects on women who have already retired. The authorities could decide on a calendar of automatic adjustment of pensions, similar to the calendar of valorization, completed in 2017, after which 300 thousand pensioners benefited retrospectively.