Survey finds male–female income disparity in Moldova

The results of a research publicized recently in Chisinau attest the fact that men are more privileged than women at work in Moldova, especially in career advancement and salaries. This fact has been proved on the basis of personal experience (48.6%) or that of colleagues and acquaintances (47.7%). These data are part of the “Gender Barometer 2006. R. of Moldova”, produced in premiere by the “Partnership for development” center with the financial support of SOROS Foundation - Moldova. According to the survey, women are also disadvantaged in comparison to men in the case of appreciating professional abilities (39.4% of the respondents) and the ability to exercise a more intense and difficult work schedule (33%). Participation of women in the leadership of family and public life is accepted by the majority of the respondents, 60% asserting that the gender of the leader in family or public life doesn’t matter. With all this, the attitude of male superiority persists, 40% of the men being convinced that the leaders of the family and public life ought to be men. In the opinion of the majority of population from RM, domains of activity characteristic to men are army/police (75.6%), constructions (72.5%), energy (72.3%) and transportation (65.8%). At the same time, half of the respondents (47.7%) consider that men should be the main workers in agriculture. In the opinion of a part of the interviewed persons, domains that are more characteristic to women are textile industry (48%), education (28.1%) the sphere of social services (25.8%) and healthcare (21.7%). The report also attests a higher rate of occupation in the case of women who, on average, work an extra hour compared to men. At the same time, although they work an equal time with men, women are also involved in household activities, on average, twice or more than men. The results of the research also show the fact that population is confronting, in most of the cases, with verbal violence (50%) and emotional abuse (21.8%). Physical violence was mentioned by 11.1% of the respondents. About 30% of the respondents asserted that they don’t confront with any form of violence. In what concerns the domestic violence, the poll attests that men are more to physical abuse. Thus 49.7% of the respondents say that they know cases of fights between partners among colleagues, relatives and friends, cases of physical abuse among spouses were mentioned by 18 % of respondents. When asked about “who should intervene in cases of violence in couples?” half of the respondents supported the opinion that they should solve their problems by themselves. On the other hand, 23.5% of the persons questioned consider that in such cases parents should involve, 18.7% pleaded for police, 14.9% - for children and 11.2% referred to the possibility of neighbors’ intervention.