The women’s political representation quota of 30%, stipulated in the draft law on the ensuring of gender equality, is low. Such a conclusion was reached by the participants in the program “Place for dialog” on the public station “Radio Moldova”, IPN reports.

Ecaterina Mardarovici, president of the Women’s Political Club 50/50, said it is illogical for the number of women involved in politics to be lower compared with that of men at a time when the number of women with studies is higher. “They often reply to me that politics is for professionals. Then why should we open schools for training politicians? Statistics show that women represent the majority of the persons with higher education. There was no case when women without higher education entered Moldova’s Parliament, unlike men,” she stated.

Politologist Olga Nicolenco also does not agree with a quota of 30% only. According to her, the bill on the women’s political participation does not clearly stipulate the position the women should occupy in the lists of candidates, but the women should also top the lists, as the men. “Our goal is not to remove the men from power. We plead for an equal number of women and men in the election lists,” stated Nicolenco.

Zinaida Ivanschi, secretarul general of the women’s organiztaion of the Ddemocratic Party, in the same program said the women’s participation quota in the party’s statutes is 50%.

The representative of the women’s organization of the Liberal Democratic Party Elena Frumosu also considers that the quota of 30% is low and voiced hope that it will be increased when the bill is adopted in the second reading.

On July 18, Parliament passed a bill to ensure gender equality in the political and public life in the first reading. The bill, which was drafted by Liberal-Democratic MPs, stipulates a minimum women’s political representation quota of 30%. The Government proposed raising it to 40%, while the Democratic Party to 50%.

According to statistics, women represent 51.9% of Moldova’s population. Over 51.1% of the graduates of all the types of education institutions are women, while in Parliament women represent slightly over 18%. In the local public authorities, women constitute about 21%.