Promotion of gender equality in the Republic of Moldova through gender mainstreaming in family and education institutions

Despite the Moldovan legislative framework for equality between women and men being in line with international commitments, implementation lags behind, and women still face discrimination and inequality in social, economic, and political life, lacking effective opportunities for participation in decision-making in public and private sectors. 40.59% of the members of Parliament are women, 21.83% of mayors, 36.51% of local councillors, and 27.08% of district councillors – far below international standards and the country’s commitments under the nationally and internationally agreed goals. Gender-based violence is also still widespread in the country and has even been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The strategy for ensuring equality between women and men in the Republic of Moldova for the years 2017-2021 and the Action Plan on its implementation include the intervention areas family protection and education, which focus on the need for gender awareness of the specialists in the field of education with the aim of minimising the influence of gender stereotypes in the choice of profession. Therefore, the development of education services sensitive to the needs of girls and boys in connection with family issues is an important precondition in promoting and ensuring gender equality within society.

During the last years, progress could already be recorded in the field of engendering education through different programmes and projects that focused on gender awareness of students and teachers at general, high school as well as vocational education level. HOPE’87 together with UNESCO also implemented different activities dedicated to the topic of gender equality in the Republic of Moldova, including meetings and discussions with teachers and students from secondary and high school classes, as well as the development, publishing and disseminating of educational-informative materials. Despite this progress in the field, the government and civil society organisations pointed out several gaps in gender equality promotion that still exist.

In this regard, an international conference dedicated to families and education through gender lenses was organised on May 11^th 2023. The conference focused on the role of families and family-oriented policies in promoting education of boys and girls and explored the connection between the role of families in gender roles, education and lifelong learning opportunities for children and youth. It further highlighted the importance of all caregivers in families, be it parents, grandparents or siblings and the importance of parental education for the welfare of their children, focusing on good practices for a work-family balance that assists parents in their educational and caregiving roles as well as for gender education in schools and universities.