The women in Moldova do not know the organisations and institutions which they can appeal to in case they become victims of sexual harassment. This is the conclusion of the study “Sexual Harassment in Moldova” presented by the Partnership for Development Centre at a roundtable meeting on November 30. The Centre’s executive director Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie said that the phenomenon of sexual harassment in Moldova is different because the women here consider that the men, by their compliments and looks, point out their qualities. The women in the United States can sue a man for a simple indecent phrase. This attitude contributes to the perpetuation of the phenomenon in Moldova, Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie said. The cited source explained that sexual harassment can be considers any impolite behaviour accompanied by sexual pressure on a person – from indecent looks and physical contact, offensive gestures, comments or jokes about sex, immoral hugs and kisses to annoying and offensive suggestions to have sex and threats or use of force. The study shows that female students notice better the harassment and immoral acts around them. According to Paul Acatrini, executive director of IMAS-INC Company, this is because female students are better informed than the women that were educated during the Soviet period, when even the notion of sex was a taboo. As regards the possible consequences of sexual harassment, about 90% of the questioned women consider that the workmates will gossip about the harassed person, 68% said that this person would leave the job, while 39% that it would get a higher salary. According to ombudsman Iurie Perevoznic, the conception of harassment was introduced in the Moldovan legislation in 2006. The law on equality of chances between men and women, which makes mention to harassment, says that the employer is obliged to take measures to prevent sexual harassment at work, but it does not provides sanctions for violating this stipulation. Though he does not know such cases, Perevoznic said that the lack of a legal practice and the subjective character of the notion of harassment render the settlement of such conflicts difficult. The research was conducted by the Marketing and Polling Institute IMAS-Inc and commissioned by the Partnership for Development Centre with resources from the Open Society Institute of Soros Moldova Foundation and from the OSCE Mission to Moldova.