Aster the local elections of November 2023, the number of women elected mayors grew by only 2% compared with the mayoral elections of 2019, shows a report on the monitoring of mayoral elections from the gender perspective, which was presented by the Center “Partnership for Development” (CPD). The Center’s experts estimated that the number of female mayors will reach 30% only in 2039.

“If we attentively look at the evolution and the rise in the number of women who had held this post since the elections of 2007, we see that the number of women elected mayors since 2011 has grown constantly by about 20%, which is a very slow and small rate. Surely, some can say it is good that the figure grew and didn’t decline. But on the whole, the rise of only 2% is slow and insignificant,” CPD expert Alina Andronache stated in a news conference hosted by IPN.

The forecast showing that the number of female mayors will reach 30% only in 2039 should be a reason for concern. Measures to increase the number of female candidates and female mayors should be thought up. “The explanation is evident as a result of reports, namely that we have yet a lot of stereotypes and perceptions as to who should run and who should hold a particular post in the Republic of Moldova,” stated the expert.

The CPD studies show that over half of the population believes that the women should devote their time to the family, children, domestic chores. It happens so even if Moldova made significant progress in adopting legislation on gender equality. “We see that society’s perceptions are hard to change and resist in time and this is not very good news of the recent elections,” noted Alina Andronache.

According to her, 24.7% of the mayors of villages are women. Among town mayors, the women represent only 14.8%. Against the elections of 2019, the number of women who were elected mayors in towns declined.

The analysis also presents the gender loss, which is the ratio of female candidates to women elected mayors. “The gender loss has grown and this is evident. We see that the number of running women has increased, but society is not yet ready or has a lot of stereotypes and prejudice, including the prototype as to who should hold this post,” stated Alina Andronache.

CPD director Natalia Covrig said the number of female candidates for mayor in 15 years has increased by only 7%. The monitoring also showed that the women run in small constituencies, which is in villages. On the one hand, there are the gender roles that become one of the most important barriers to the women’s involvement in politics. On the other hand, there are very pronounced stereotypes in society about the women’s involvement in politics.

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