Only a third of entrepreneurs in Moldova are women, caused by different factors including limited access to resources and financial capital, discriminatory practices and gender stereotypes, as well as the burden of unpaid care work. Women are furthermore underrepresented in top managerial positions, shows the Comprehensive Country Gender Assessment that was developed by the UN Country Team in Moldova (UNCT), including the World Bank (WB), IPN reports.
According to the study, the women continue to be a minority in the business community. They need more support and encouragement than the men to start a business. Compared with men, fewer women entrepreneurs intend to develop their business during the next two years.
Study author Natalia Covrig, project coordinator at the Center “Partnership for Development” (CPD), said the COVID-19 pandemic worsened inequalities in care responsibilities, with a negative disproportionate impact on women, resulting in them becoming less active in the labor market. “The pandemic resulted in women losing their jobs or incomes, as they had to manage remote working while performing increased domestic and caring responsibilities. Moreover, the pandemic had a near-immediate effect on women’s employment: the share of women who continued to go to work was 15% lower than men,” stated Natalia Covrig.
In the political sphere, things are improving. Recent effective legal changes, instituting a double quota system, have resulted in more women being elected to political offices. After the 2019 local elections, the highest number of elected women councilors was registered. 27.08% of elected women were at the district/municipal level (an increase of 10% in comparison with previous elections), and 36.5% at the local level (an increase of 6%). The share of women MPs elected to Parliament in 2021 also increased to 39.6%.
The results of the assessment will feed into key strategic and analytical documents of the United Nations system, including the new World Bank Country Partnership Framework for the Republic of Moldova; the United Nations 2021 Common Country Analysis and the Moldova-United Nations Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development 2023-2027.
