The Gender Equality Platform insists on the observance of the minimum 40% gender quota in the composition of the Cabinet. As only two ministries are now managed by women, better representation of women should be ensured at the next stage, when designating state secretaries, so as to remove the signaled discrepancy.
“If we look at statistics concerning the representation of women in public posts, we can ascertain that 22% means regression. These figures can be offset by ensuring the presence of women in the posts of state secretaries,” director of the Resource Center for Human Rights Sergiu Ostaf said in a news conference at IPN.
The Platform encourages the Government to review the decision to create a section to promote gender equality policies and to choose to constitute a specialized division. “We know that the Government rethinks the decisional transparency process and these omissions are regrettable. When the draft decision is included in the agenda of the Government and this is then transformed into another decision that is different by substance, we become concerned about decisional transparency in this case. More visible consultations with civil society and other players would have been recommendable,” stated Sergiu Ostaf.
Eleonora Grosu, of the Coalition “Life Without Violence in the Family”, said the principle of ensuring gender equality is a priority of the Moldova-EU Association Agreement, which stipulates Moldova’s commitment to integrate gender equality into all the state policies.
This implies the constitution of divisions that would ensure equal opportunities for women and men and fighting and prevention of gender-based violence. Each ministry and subordinated public authority will create gender units and will ensure the functionality of coordinating groups in the field of gender.
