Women are accepted for executive posts at lower level, not yet for key posts

The women are mostly accepted for executive posts at lower level, but the preference degree for a woman to that post decreases in favor of a man when the importance of that position increases. This is one of the findings of a study made within the service Omnibus CBS-AXA – “Participation of the Moldovan women and men in decision making,” Info-Prim Neo reports. The population’s perceptions of the presence of women in decision-making circles of any level are ‘centrist-masculinized’. About two thirds of the respondents said they support the idea that the men and women must have equal access to decision making. 25-29% of them consider the executive positions must be held by men. According to the study, only 4% of the responds would prefer a woman to hold the post of head of state, while 41.1% would certainly prefer a man. Half of those polled said the gender does not count. The priorities seen by women do not different substantially from those seen by men. However, some of the differences are sufficiently pronounced. Thus, the women are more preoccupied with social infrastructure, including social assistance services (43.6% of women and 35.7% of men), educational infrastructure (31.6% as against 24.6%) and health services/institutions (28.6% as opposed to 23.6%). The participation in decision-making at community level is also considered ‘centrist-masculinized’. 56.3% of those interviewed consider that the decisions are taken by men and women equally in matters concerning the development and renovation of local facilities. 28.1% said mainly the men take decisions and only 3.3% said that the decisions are taken principally by women. 3.5% answered ‘nobody’, 0.5% – ‘somebody else’, while 8.3% do not know or did not answer. The study “Participation of the Moldovan women and men in decision making” was conducted between September 19 and 27. It covered a sample of 1,225 persons older than 18. The margin of sampling error was +3%. The study was commissioned by the Partnership for Development Center and carried out with financial support from Soros Foundation and the Government of Sweden. It was launched in Bahrinesti village of Floresti district.