More than 30 nongovernmental organizations made a repeated public call to MPs to hasten the adoption of legislation on gender equality in the electoral and political processes, IPN reports. Civil society requests introducing a minimum women’s representation quota of 40% of the candidates for seats in Parliament and Government and banning sexist advertisements.

The NGOs say the ensuring of gender equality is an essential precondition for a sustainable society. Women represent over 50% of the country’s population. Consequently, they should be represented in a balanced way at all the decision-making levels.

The problems faced by the women and men are different, as the approaches are. Durable solutions to these problems can be identified only by equally involving women and men. Over 60% of the graduates with higher education in Moldova are women. Consequently, there is intellectual potential that is not fully realized.

The NGOs also say that ensuring of gender equality is a commitment undertaken by the Association Agreement with the EU, the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and by the Government’s program for 2013-2014  “European Integration: Freedom, Democracy, Welfare”.

The introduction of a minimum women’s representation quota is generally considered an efficient method for removing the obstacles to the women’s participation in politics and for significantly increasing the representation of women in the political and public sectors.