March 8 isn’t Mother’s Day, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie

„ March 8 isn’t Mother’s Day, as it is wrongly considered in Moldova”, said Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie, president of the National Council of NGOs, head of the Partnership for Development Center, in an interview titled “March 8 is my professional day” offered to Info-Prim Neo. She explained that “worldwide, March 8 is Militant Women’s Day, thanks to whom we have the right to vote, to education, healthcare, contraception and others. They were women who fought so that we, modern women, had the right to property, divorce, the right to choose and say “No!” when we think it’s necessary”. “In Moldova, it kept a part of its Soviet version. Then, it was named the same. In Soviet times, like now, it lost its initial meaning- that of fighting for social and political rights and equal treatment. After the early period, when women were really militating, somehow miraculously (though I have some suppositions) it changed. At a certain moment, the USSR and other countries painted this holiday in pink and everyone liked it, for the beginning”, said Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie. According to her, although vulgarized for years, the holiday is becoming more and more significant for militants for women’s rights and gender equality. The worldwide trend is rediscovering March 8’s original meaning. “Times have changed and our requests have changed as well, but believe me: we still have a lot of work to do regarding the respect and promotion of rights obtained by our predecessors”, she stressed. On the other hand, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie is happy that in Moldova, both the social-political and romantic aspects of the holiday are kept. “I enjoy seeing women happier and smiling on March 8. I like to see men a little nervous and excited (Will she like the present? Does she prefer roses or tulips?). I like even more when youth and couples with children participate in civil society manifestations on March 8, when women firmly say they want equal treatment, not just flowers, that they are men’s equal and have a larger understanding of their role as Women, besides the reproductive one. It’s a big progress. March 8 is my professional holiday. It may seem an overstatement, but that’s how I feel it”, the civil society leader said.