Angela Chicu, President BPW, Moldova
"A Presentation for BPW Europe"

Angela Chicu, President BPW, Moldova

"A Presentation for BPW Europe"

Moldova
Angela Chicu, President BPW, Moldova

"A Presentation for BPW Europe"

We are women, mothers, and wives. I have a son who is a student at Informatics College. I am a press officer at the Ministry of Transport & Communications. I am a member of the Union of Journalists and have published my own books, mainly for children.

Our association has been active for over three years. Women have always fought for their rights, for the good of our nation so one of our main objectives is to promote and support the rights of women, mothers, and children.

In Moldova economic decline affects most of the population. Poverty and misery are becoming general phenomena; corruption and crime keep spreading. The legislative and executive branches of government reflect the same problems. We will never have a perfect system of government while we have a corrupt society, which suffers from totalitarianism. A genuine democracy requires personal responsibility. That's why, before changing humanity, we need to improve ourselves.

Women are emigrating from Moldova at an increasing rate. This is a disease of a society that judges a person by material possessions; a disease that takes victims. Nobody keeps track of those women who have left to work unofficially as prostitutes: no one bothers to find out how many haven't come back home. This problem is a national problem which should be widely discussed, but people hardly mention it; more importantly, they ignore the fact that 68 % of our country's unemployed population are women.

53 % of our population are women but they have limited access decision making in society, family, or work etc. The right of women to vote and to be elected was secured by the Constitution of the Republic S.S.Moldova in 1941 and reconfirmed in the 1994 Constitution of the Republic of Moldova. But today, our country has made no progress. On the contrary: a woman has never been elected president or prime minister in our history. Our legislative structure consists of 8 women; one is a nominated minister, the rest are vice ministers or department directors.

56% of our women have a working day of 6 to 10 hours. At home they work from 4 to 8 hours including household chores and family tasks.

Our women have a double working day which adds up almost 70 hours a week; 15 hours more than the working week of women in Western Europe. At work they receive small salaries and at home their services are free. The decline in the system of childcare has increased the burden of women from Moldova. The number of children going to kindergarten has decreased from 62.8 % in 1989 to 31.5 % in 1997.

The health of women in Moldova is critical. The maternal death rate in 1997 was 48.3 cases per 100.000 births and 33.5 in 1998, which is 1.5-2 times greater than in the Western Europe. The lack of resources for health services in Moldova has led to a rise in individual health fees. There has been a catastrophic increase in the level of sexually transmitted diseases, as a consequence of the collapse in the system of health services, a deficit of contraceptives, and a general lack of sexual education. The countries with the highest number of HIV cases in the CIS, Central Europe, and the Baltic countries are reported to be Belarus, Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The achievement and application of women's rights are problems that need more attention and support from government and others. Moldavian women are "the greatest absentees" from public life and from the changes occurring in Moldavian society. We have only a few women in our Parliament, only one woman is the prefect of a county and men hold all the mayoral positions. In most of our organizations and institutions, the directors are men, while women are mainly assistants.

There is no anti-discrimination law against women in the workplace, social security, education, and public and private life. This gap in the legal system represents a serious obstacle to the achievement of real equality between the sexes.

On the other hand, the Moldavian woman is prepared for the market economy. According to recent statistics, the financial situation is better in families where the woman is the leader.

Over 80 percent of the "carters" who commute between Chisinau and Turkey, Poland, or Cyprus are women. The price they pay for the insurance of their families' welfare is too high. I know the kinds of humiliation, and acts of violence to which those women are subjected, spending their time and health in foreign countries.

Despite this, our women remain beautiful, ingenious, good housekeepers good mothers. I would erect a monument for her in the center of the capital. Actually, at present I'm working on a project, to construct a women's monument.

The trafficking of women undermines the biological and social structure of society. Children remain without parents and are cared for by their grandparents or neighbors or they become vagabonds and beggars. BPW Moldova helped found the National Center of Social Development to deal with social development for orphaned children. We need understanding and assistance from partners abroad to help with this. Our country cannot to sustain such an initiative alone.

These facts and many others led us to establish BPW Moldova, in August 1998. These crises fall on the shoulders of women, that is why the main goal of our organization is to offer ways to overcome some of the difficulties they encounter in their everyday lives. We plead for genuine equality between men and women, family consolidation, the protection of children's rights, the development of scientific, technical, and artistic creation, the rebirth of spiritual and moral values, and the conservation of folk traditions.

BPW Moldovia has supported the inauguration of an exhibition of children's drawings entitled "Global Shoes". In 1999 the most interesting and original works from this collection were selected in order to be exhibited at the Children's Museum in Brooklyn, New York (USA). We have helped the new children's library in the native village of writer Constantin Dragomir (Marinici village, Ungheni county) to complete its project, by donating books and magazines.

The international ecological project, South Eastern Mediterranean Ecological Project, which focuses on the countries located along the south eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and on those bordering the Black Sea, was initiated in 1994. The project comprises 22 countries. The Republic of Moldova joined it in 1998. SEMEP's primary objectives are the education of children about environmental problems and cooperation and cultural exchange between the participant countries with the goal of promoting peace and tolerance between nations.

Our association organized a thematic exhibition called "Ecology and Water" within the SEMEP programme in Moldova. Under the sponsorship of APWM a city and republic-wide photography and art contest was held under the title " Water and Environment". Participants in the photo contest were students from associated schools and other educational institutions. About 200 works were presented; the most successful ones were then exhibited at the Press House. For about 5 months passers-by had the opportunity to admire new, original, and artistic photographs. Ten works of the young photographers were presented at an international exhibition held in Bucharest, Romania.

At the National Library there was an exhibition of about 100 children's drawings from a citywide contest. At the inauguration of the exhibition, guests remarked on the profoundness and maturity of the young artists, expressing the hope that maybe they who will find the magical formula of harmony and beauty which will save our civilisation. Nine of the participants in the photo contest received a ten-day holiday at international summer camps in Turkey and Bulgaria. UNICEF awarded another 10 prizes.

On all of these projects we received support from the representatives of UNESCO and UNICEF in Moldova, with whom we work in cooperation. I would like to continue developing my idea. We have decided to open two clubs within our association: Mother and Child, a club where women will benefit from the advice doctors, teachers, psychologists, etc. and The Club of Acquaintances, meant to help lonely women who are in need of communication. And in the end I would like to add that I like what I do and hope to bring joy to people around me.

We have made a few accomplishments, although we have been active for only three years, but there are also dissatisfactions due to the general devastating situation in Moldova, which I am not able to change by myself. I am glad to have the support of my family, friends, and fellow workers from the women's movement. With the help and will of God I hope to implement the concrete projects that I have in After all, life is beautiful and should be lived with joy

A GIRL'S BILL OF RIGHTS

1. Respect and fair treatment from her family, the education and training systems, employers, the health services and the wider community;

2. Absolute protection from physical, emotional or sexual abuse, overiding the rights of adults to practice religious or cultural traditions,

3. A fair share of all social resources;

4. Equal treatment under the law and by social agencies;

5. To be educated in economic and political issues to enable her to become an effective citizen;

6. Information and education on all aspects of health, including sexual and reproductive health in order to control her own fertility;

7. Positiv support at school and at home to deal with the physical and emotional changes of puberty;

8. Visibility in official statistics disaggregated by gender and age.

9. Not to be targeted by advertizing which promotes smoking, drinking and other harmful substances.

This “Girl's Bill of Rights” was presented and approved by all delegates to the European Regional Meeting of Business Women, 24 – 28 October 2001 in Cyprus. This official act means that the BPW Federations commit themselves to carry out the protocol and become a part of an initiative that is designed to promote service for the girls of today who will become the women of tomorrow.

Ilse Spritzendorfer, chairperson of the Conference,

BPW European Co-ordinator,

Representative of the Committee on the Family.

General Assembly of the European Women's Lobby

At the General Assembly of the European Women's Lobby, Brussels 15-16 September 2001, Business and Professional Women Europe, represented by their delegates Maria Hagemann and Ilse Spritzendorfer, proposed two motions.

The motion on "Integrating Gender Equality in the Implementation of the European Social Agenda" was carried unanimously.

The motion on "Women in decision-making" was placed as amendment to the work programme. It was carried with a large majority and will now be included into the work programme of the European Women's Lobby for 2002.

The motions read as follows:

Women still constitute a minority in political and economic decision-making. Possibly one of the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in decision-making positions has to be seen in the lack of adequate role models serving at preparing the way for other women.

Therefore the General Assembly of the EWL commits to launching a project aiming at raising awareness of the achievements of women in the political and economic field and encouraging women to go ahead. Especially the EWL shall develop a brochure presenting outstanding women in decision-making positions at European, national and local level and take further measures to present these role models to a wide public.

In Nice, Dec. 2000, the European Council approved the European Social Agenda, which defines specific priorities for action in all social policy areas for the next five years.

Although promoting gender equality is one of six strategic orientations of the Agenda, the outcome of the Stockholm Council in March 2001 dealing for the first time with the implementation of the Agenda, shows that the gender equality dimension did not play an important part in the decision-making.

The EWL has already carefully studied the proposal for the Social Agenda and pointed out the crucial points for women at the informal Ministerial meeting on Gender Equality and Social Security at the beginning of this year.

As the progressing implementation of the Social Agenda will have an effect on the life of every woman in the EU, we call for a commitment of the General Assembly of the EWL to ensuring that monitoring the development of the Social Agenda from a gender perspective will be one of the key fields of action for the EWL in the next year.

Especially the EWL should intensify their lobbying for:

• The integration of women's interests into the process of reforming and developing social protection systems at the European level (e.g. the European average pensioner is not a woman!)
• A European Employment Strategy that encourages women to aim at a higher level of participation in the labour market to ensure their economic independence and as a result their individual rights to social protection. The success of this strategy will largely depend on combating discrimination and disincentives for women in the labour market. In this context monitoring the revision of the Directive 76/207 on equality between men and women in employment is of vital importance.
• An early involvement in the preparation of a new Directive intended to promote gender equality in areas other than employment and professional life.

The EWL should especially use the annual meeting of the social partners to be held before each spring European Council meeting for a review of the actual integration of a gender perspective into the progressive implementation of the European Social Agenda and for active lobbying for gender equality related issues in this context.