Each fourth candidate for mayor in the local general elections of this year was a woman. Now only 20% of the country’s settlements are managed by women, shows a study of the election outcome carried out by the Center of Continuous Electoral Training under the Central Election Commission, quoted by IPN.
“It is a worrisome trend because researches show that in the countries with such gender imbalance, there are fewer social programs, while the level of welfare and comfort is lower there in the people’s perception. In the recent election campaign, women made public approaches and reported such community problems as the poor state of sidewalks and the lack of playgrounds, but only 990 women ran for mayoralty, out of the 4,393 candidates. This is a very low number,” said sociologist Veronica Ates, who is an expert of the Center.
According to the Center’s director Natalia Iuras, a number of programs to train and encourage the women are needed and the Center will soon launch such programs. They count on support from women’s organizations of parties and NGOs that want to see this discrepancy removed and from all the women with civic spirit.
“This year we staged several training seminars, including one to promote leaderism and a concert where women successful in business, public affairs and the diplomatic service and active women from all over the country conducted a choir alongside men to show that leaderism does not have gender and to encourage professionals to apply for public posts, regardless of their sex or ethnicity. We will continue our approaches by public events and by inspirational training courses,” said Natalia Iuras.
In the local general elections of 2015, there were elected 184 women mayors and 714 men mayors, which is 20% to 80%.
The Center of Continuous Electoral Training is a public institution that trains electoral functionaries able to organize free and fair elections, in accordance with the international norms. The experts share their experience with colleagues from Romania, Ukraine, Albania, Belarus, and Turkey.
