Discrimination against women in elections, in different forms, affects their participation not only in elections, but in general in public life, in decision-making processes. The monitoring in the period before the first round of the presidential elections confirmed the existence of a systemic and institutionalized system of the phenomenon. Since the platform www.gender.monitor.md was launched, on October 8 this year, over 74 cases of sexist hate speech in the public sphere and also of violence against women in elections have been reported. Sexist hate speech was more intensely used closed to the elections and gradually turned into an organized campaign against civil society, including the mass media, the Gender Equality Platform said in a press release that is quoted by IPN.
According to the source, sexist statements were made by candidate Igor Dodon in the program “Igor Dodon Responds”. On October 23, the candidate labeled discriminatorily his opponents, especially those without children. “My opponents, those who tomorrow will take their rucksacks and will flee the country. They don’t care about the mother and the father or are you for those candidates who do not have children and do not want to have.”
Also, Andrei Nastase on October 28 on Facebook Live said the PPPDA will make effort to protect the Republic of Moldova with its own human resources from the prepared oligarchic siege and invites all the men of this country who feel they can and are prepared to go with them to the 42 polling stations. The Gender Equality Platform noted the call excludes women and minimizes their capacity to oppose illegal acts on the election day.
On October 28, Renato Usatyi said Maia Sandu is not suitable for the post of President because no one will take her seriously. “Everyone laughs at Maia Sandu. Nobody will laugh at me and this is the difference between us. We somehow have the same views, but the methods we use are different,” Renato Usatyi sated in the program “Politics” on TV8 channel, strengthening thus the idea of masculine superiority and credibility in politics.
The Platform recommends signaling cases of sexist speech and violence against women in elections on www.gender.monitor.md and calls on the mass media to denounce sexism, especially at debates, and to warn the participants if they use discriminatory practices and sexist messages.
