Women from villages working in agriculture edited a letter with demands intended for the authorities. They say the workload of the women in agriculture is the heaviest, but they have the lowest pensions and childcare allowances, IPN reports.
The women collected several thousand signatures in support of their appeal. On October 18, the administration of “Agroindsind” Federation will hand over their demands and the signatures to the Government and Parliament. The women offer the authorities time to take measures by November 20. Otherwise they will picket the state institutions.
Daria Bostan, president of the Women’s Council of “Agroinsind” Federation, told a news conference that the rights of the women from rural areas are fragrantly violated. They have pensions of slightly over 600 lei and childcare allowances of 300 lei. “The 300 lei is spent on two boxes of diapers. The allowance paid at the birth of a child should be raised to 5,000 lei. We calculated that 5,400 lei is needed for basic necessities at the birth of a child, but we receive slightly over 2,000 lei,” she stated.
Rodica Lupu, chairman of the Ungheni Local Union of “Agroinsind”, said the rural women’s heath is in danger and the number of cases of women suffering from breast cancer who go to the doctor too late because they have a low income has increased. “The authorities intend to increase the health insurance contribution by 1%. We do not agree. We consider that medicine should be financed from the state budget, while the people’s contributions should be used to improve the quality of services,” she stated.
The trade unionists also asked augmenting the budget for sanatorium treatment for women. They expressed their concern that the prices of drugs increased, but the pensions and salaries remained at the same level. The women said the young people from rural areas have fewer possibilities of continuing their studies and thus choose to go abroad. The number of those who prefer to work in the underground economy rose as the people do not feel protected even if they pay all the contributions to the state.
