Women are still heavily underrepresented in politics, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie

“Women are underrepresented at both central (only 19 deputies and one woman minister) and local levels (18% of mayor offices)”, said Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie, president of the National Council of NGOS, head of the Partnership for Development Center, in an interview titled “March 8 is my professional day” offered to Info-Prim Neo. She added that in small and medium enterprises, women are skilled and active, but still less than men. ”Statistics are shocking when we speak about big businesses, where only 5% of managers are women”. “Studies show women are more involved in nongovernmental sector than men and I have some explanations. It’s clear most NGOs work in the social sphere, which is the most feminized and also the least paid sector. In the few political or economic NGOs, men dominate, because they’re the “experts” and these are serious domains, right? (and the most paid, obviously). On the other hand, the work program in an NGO is more flexible, which is a great advantage for married women or with children (usually, they are responsible for most household chores). In politics and business, women’s situation is worse”, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie said. According to her, NGO are more active in this direction than politicians and authorities. “Indeed, civil society is more involved than public authorities and the political class, but that’s not just in Moldova… NGOs in this domain chose to focus on gender equality for this very reason. That’s the goal of an entity based on civism and the wish to make things better. I hope civil society will remain as active and even incisive sometimes, until the gender aspect is included in all actions and policies elaborated and implemented by state or in the association sector; until women have the same wages as men, not 28% lower as they are today; until people realize abuses of any kind are punished and children must be educated for self-fulfillment, regardless of gender, and not according to social stereotypes; until people have normal salaries here and won’t be forced to leave their kids and gain money abroad; until women with great leadership skills, who want to involve in politics, get top places on parties’ list of candidates and not below 40-50 positions; until… well, it’s a long way. I remain optimistic and hope to lose my job, when there will be no more problems to fight”, the militant for women’s rights said.