The Most Influential 50 Moldovans
In a recent project, I accidentally came across the list of most influential 50 Moldovans in the VIP magazine. Much to my surprise, but probably reflective of the patriarchic society, only 6% of these influential people are women.
(11) Zinaida Greceanii/ politics
(39) Maria Postoico/ politics
(48) Natalia Vrabie/ banking system
Notice, that women don’t even make it in top 10, as the first woman lands on the 11th place.
I decided to look further and browse through the list of Parliamentarians, only to find out that women represent nearly 20% of the total number of voted Parliament representative. Not as bad as other countries, and much better then the percentage of influential women, but still far from demonstrating gender equality.
In terms of the Government and the Cabinet of Ministers, 2 of the 13 ministerial seats are occupied by women. These are the Minister of Finance and the much traditional woman role of the Minister of Social Protection, Family, and Child. In addition, the Prime-Minster has 9 advisors, and all of them are men.
I will probably analyze this issue further, but my first conclusion is that the most influential positions in Moldova don’t provide equal opportunities for men and women. As an example, the most basic fundamental Law on Public Service does not include any clauses on gender equality.
September 12th, 2007 04:21
Interesting observation.
There is indeed a lot of sexist attitudes in Government. I’m sure First Deputy Prime Minister Mrs. Greceanii is perceived by many of her colleagues rather as an exception to the “rule” according to which the smartest and most competent statemen are and should be male.
A small correction, the current Minister of Finance is a man as well, Mihail Pop.
September 12th, 2007 04:50
Interesting changes in the government. When I left Moldova Mr. Vrabie was Minister of Public Administration and Deputy Prime-Minister. How do you get from this to being the Minister of Defense?
It is interesting how in a very patriarchal society, with gender discriminatory traditions and policies, we had a woman as President of Parliament (Mrs. Ostapciuc), and now a women as Deputy Prime-Minister (Mrs. Grecianii). It’s like women either make it to the top management positions, or don’t make it at all.
September 12th, 2007 05:58
Officially, the former Minister of Local Public Administration and later Deputy Prime-Minister was appointed as Minister of Defense with the main purpose of bringing order and discipline at the new ministry, just like he presumably did at the previous ministry. Of course, no transparent performance evaluation was conducted :))
One thing is sure in Moldova Government: the quality most appreciated is not professionalism, great past achievements or outstanding academic performance…it is loyalty to the party and inability or unwillingness to apply critical judgement.
You could look at this from a different angel: maybe women are less tolerant of such an environment, therefore they are less present among the governing elite