Although the Republic of Moldova is in a much better position compared to other states in the region as regards the involvement of women in public life and political life, the index shows that the Republic of Moldova does not manage to completely overcome the traditionalist paradigm. Furthermore, the public attitude regarding the role of women and men in society even worsened, doctor in sociology Tatiana Cojocari stated in a public debate titled “Debunking gender stereotypes”.
“Women are assigned roles that are more related to private life, family, while men are assigned more roles related to public life,” said the permanent expert of IPN’s project.
She said that this paradigm also affects men.
“This pressure is put on them to be those who earn the money and support the family. Because of this, we are witnessing inequality in education as well. Men pressured by this role that society assigns to them abandon education, school to earn money,” said Tatiana Cojocari.
As for the role of women as leaders in politics or business, or involvement in particular topics, such as security, work is still to be done here, noted the expert.
“We still have problems in terms of the woman leader. I realized one thing from my own experience. Being an expert and sometimes talking about the subject of security, I receive comments, such as: “you are a woman and you should not state your opinion on such topics; your role is to love your man and take care of the family,” said Cojocari.
According to her, solutions must be looked for to change the individual mentality.
“We need to delve into the subject and see what the causes are, why the woman accepts to work for a lower salary – because she does not have negotiation skills or she does not have self-confidence. Women have been told over the years that they should not be part of particular processes and then the woman tends to accept what is offered to her,” said Cojocari.
The expert noted that more training seminars, more courses should be held in the future, including on leadership, on building self-confidence, or your own network. At the same time, increased solidarity between women is needed.
The public debate on “Dismantling gender stereotypes” is organized in the framework of the project “IPN News Agency for Social Cohesion and Pro-European Moldova”, funded by IMS.
