Chisinau, March 7th, 2019 – Being considered as International Women Day,  8 March has a special connotation because it has a goal to promote equality between women and men and to signal the phenomenon of discrimination and violence of women. In 2019 UNESCO proposed to celebrate women’s contribution to the development of society, especially in the digital space.

“When we speak about gender equality, we mean equal rights, freedoms and chances to develop in diverse areas for women and for men. Hence, we mean to be equal representation in all spheres of life as well as in decision-making positions. At the same time, it is important to have equal opportunities and responsibilities both in personal and professional life”, – declared Yan Feldman, Council’s president.

In recent years the government has recorded some signs of progress towards equal treatment of women and men through modification of the legislation or applying measures for integration and promotion of women, however, there are gaps of inequalities, which are experienced by women.

Thus many young women face more difficulties rather than men in employment. For the same job, women are paid less than men (According to the Partnership for Development, during 2017, the salary gap between a woman and a man was on average 13.5%). Women accept often part-time jobs or stop their carriers and take care for their children. This inequality is automatically reflected in the allowances. Also, the legislation of the Republic of Moldova still uses some discriminatory formulations in relation to women.

In this context, Council has recommended to the Classification of Occupations of the Republic of Moldova to exclude the perpetuation of traditional gender roles and gender stereotypes, which continue dictatштп the distribution of roles between women and men in the family in work and society. The same situation repeated when Council recommended to Nomenclature of Heavy and Harmless Occupations and Workplaces, Proclamation to Women and the Maximum Exercise Stand, admitted to women for the manual lifting and transportation of weights.According to the document, a woman cannot be employed in one of these professions, even if she meets all the occupational requirements specific to her work due to the reason that she is a woman.

 Council’s experience shows that the sex/gender criterion is among the top three criteria, which are invoked in received complaints.

Council for preventing and eliminating discrimination and ensuring equality highlights the importance of participation of everyone in the combating of prejudices and stereotypes and to recognize the women’s contribution in digital space (the theme of the current year) and in all spheres of life.