The situation of women in Moldovan politics has been practically the same during 20 years. Even if it was proven for hundreds of times that the women are much more loyal and accept to work for parties, this loyalty has been neglected, said Ecaterina Mardarovici, executive director of the Women’s Political Club “50x50”. To change things, civil society will further exert pressure so that a quota of women’s representation on the lists of candidates and in the bodies of power is set.
In a news conference at IPN, Ecaterina Mardarovici, in the name of civil society, expressed regret at the fact that the leaders of the political parties, though they admitted that they have very well-qualified women who can fulfill their duties better than the men, ignored this thing when they compiled the lists of candidates for the November 30 parliamentary elections.
“The empowerment of women does not mean training, but giving them jobs. Over years, since 1990 until now, the first top ten positions on the lists of candidates were mainly occupied by men. In the 1990s, the presence of a woman among the top ten candidates was a great honor, while in 2000-2010 there were two women among the first ten. We are glad that things changed and we now have three-four women, but the situation changes very slowly,” said the executive director of the Women’s Political Club “50x50”.
“We are sorry that none of the commitments made by Moldova determined the parties to do something, not even the Millennium Development Goals by which Moldova pledged to have a minimum women’s representation level in Parliament of 30% by 2015. Regretfully, it is a commitment that we may fail to fulfill. No money is needed for honoring it, only political will.”
Ecaterina Mardarovici wished the extra-parliamentary parties success in the elections as they always have had a larger number of women on their lists of candidates. “There is yet time and we would like very much the parties to modify the lists. We regret it that the PDM didn’t deliver its promise to institute a women’s representation quota of 40% and then of 50% for election lists. It’s better than earlier, but not very well,” she stated, adding that the situation can be improved with the assistance of women’s organizations of parties that can change the women’s image in politics.
Ecaterina Mardarovici noted that the 59 countries that have instituted levels of women’s representation in the public and political life have the best social systems in the world and witness significant economic development.
