OSCE experts will discuss with 25 Defense Ministry officers from across the country, both women and men, how to create conditions in which women can be encouraged to go into security sector careers, Info-Prim Neo reports. Women’s engagement in the security and peace building sector is crucial for the success of such efforts. Moldova’s security structures need to open their doors to women more widely, says a press release issued by the OSCE Mission to Moldova. “We can’t ensure peace and security if more than half of the population is barely engaged in the process,” said Jan Plešinger, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. “Female officers have demonstrated high professionalism in the Moldovan army and peace-keeping operations abroad,” said Moldova’s Defence Minister Vitalie Marinuta, noting the increasing number of women in the country’s army. “The Ministry plans to improve access of women to higher-ranking positions to ensure that the armed forces better serve the population”, he added. Gender equality and non-discrimination in security sector policies are the focus of a two-day training event held by the OSCE Mission to Moldova, in co-operation with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), that started on December 8 in Chisinau. The seminar participants will explore how non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive policies can help the armed forces become more effective, discuss the role played by women in all security sector functions and how it can be advanced and strengthened in Moldova. Under the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, adopted in 2004, OSCE participating States committed to engaging women in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. .