The Republic of Moldova ranks 29th out of 146 countries according to the Global Gender Index in terms of gender equality, said PAS MP Doina Gherman. According to her, Moldovan society detached itself from the principles of patriarchate when it chose the first women as President of the country. For their part, gender policy experts said the women in Moldova continue being discriminated as they are paid less for similar work than the men, IPN reports.

Gender equality experts said that despite the made progress, prejudice and discrimination against women exist in Moldovan society. Even if the women and men are equal before the law, this equality is not ensured when it goes to opportunities and social life.

“Women are discriminated when they are not paid for the done work, when they do not have options where to leave the children so as to find a good job. The women with disabilities are also discriminated. It is an area in which our society has to invest a lot,” the president of “Institutum Virtutes Civilis” Liliana Palihovici stated in the program “Good Evening” on the public TV channel.

“Surely, the adoption of normative framework, no matter how good this is, does not lead to the change of population’s mentality. The Republic of Moldova is in the middle between patriarchate, traditionalism and modernism,” said the head of “Gender Centru” Valentina Bodrug-Lungu.

According to experts, the current legislation encourages the participation of women in the political life. The parties are now obliged to obey a quota of 40% when compiling lists of candidates and this means four places of ten should be occupied by women.

“There are international researches that correlate the level of wellbeing of a country with the state polices that ensure equal chances for women and men. If we wait for the gender pay gap to disappear naturally, we should wait for 50-60 years. That’s why state policies are needed,” said the representative of the Legal Resources Center Ilie Chirtoacă.

To promote gender equality, Parliament adopted a law that encourages employers to offer equal pays for women and men.

“The Republic of Moldova showed its openness to gender equality in 2020, when it elected the first female President in 30 years. According to Global Gender Index, by the political component the Republic of Moldova ranks 29th out of 146 countries. The last few years we ensured a positive trend. The people feel inspired and encouraged when they see women in administrative posts in times of crisis. The gender pay gap is of 14% or 17,000 lei a year,” said PAS MP Doina Gherman.

According to the Center “Partnership for Development”, a woman in 2022 needs to work for two more months to reach the value of a man’s salary last year.