U.N.D.P. analysis: women in Moldova face serious social problems

Women in Moldova face serious social problems, which have an impact on condition of family, birth, children – this is the conclusion of an analysis conducted by UND-Moldova titled Women and Men in the Republic of Moldova. It said that the number of children born by a woman has dropped from 2 in the 1990s down to 1 in 2000-2004. Also, statistics show that 8 out of 9 women who died while giving birth in 2004 were from local areas. Women are leaders regarding morbidity of some diseases, especially cardiovascular. Thus, the infarct kills 24 percent of women capable to work and the cancer kills another 24 percent, while girls represent 72 percent of persons aged 15-19 who suffer from cancer. The data on situation of women in Moldova are completed by statistics on their social status. The medium salary of a woman represents 71 percent of the salary of men, while the pay in trade and finance sectors is much lower. Only 43 percent of workers in small business sector are females and they count for less than 30 percent in other fields. Despite of low salaries, most of teachers and doctors are female. Thus, about 80 percent of employees of schools and 54 percent of lecturers are females. The analysis reveals that the economic condition of women has an impact on their reproductive life. Almost 50 percent of women who gave birth in 2004 suffered from anaemia during pregnancy and about 9,300 babies were illegitimately born, more than in 2000-2003. Also, the divorce rate has increased from 2.4 per 1,000 residents in 1999 up to 4.1 in 2004, while 1/4 of divorces affect the couples who have lived 5-9 years together and have minor children. According to international expert of UNDP Marina Blagojevic, the statistics included in the book Women and Men in the Republic of Moldova are uncompleted because they do not cover data on volume of unpaid work performed by women and properties of women, data which would complete the picture of Moldova woman’s condition. Also, it does not include data on violence on woman. Blagojevic noted that UNDP will do its best in future to include these data in the general statistics on differences of genders in Moldova.