Disadvantage and weakness have been coupled with Moldovan women for decades; limitations derived from stereotypes, female responsibilities, and elusiveness in private life and men?s superiority in decision-making, in public life and most times in the household. Beautiful, intelligent and inspired by modernity, what is their role in the society now?
At the present moment, women?s participation and representation in political and social spheres is far from satisfactory and equal. However, some inclinations to eradicate gender-biased approaches are also observed, predominantly among the erudite society. The society embraces an optimistic attitude to women?s participation in political spheres and this can be considered chiefly promising, particularly a propos equal representation. If supported by increased awareness, initiated by the state, civil society actors and media (which has definitely been the case in the past decade), this can be viewed as a promising trend for gender equality.
Women?s model of behavior is frankly shaped in early childhood and later regulates interaction between men and women. One must remember that most women born earlier than 1991 will have their behavior regulated by soviet and post-soviet education and this will affect their interaction with men and what role they think they must occupy in the society. Nonetheless, in my opinion, these relations and the role of women in the society are subject to significant change and potential and are subject to changing societies, which are affected by trends towards globalization, largely by urbanization and of course transition. Opportunities for women increased at an exponential growth in the past 15 years and this played a direct role in changing their roles in the society and within the household.
The society, its political prospective and legislation, created a framework for gender equality. Even if in rural areas this is not felt so much, gender has almost been institutionalized in this country, at least from a legislative prospective. Moldova?s ?gender legislation? does not stay behind a civilized European country. It is perhaps traces of soviet mentality and other underdeveloped spheres which are related to gender (such as poor infrastructure in healthcare, social policy, education) that pose repercussions for gender. The state must ensure that the burden is not passed onto the household. There is hope that this problem will disappear, as it did in other European states which had this problem. Take as an example France in the ?60 ? women were on equal right to men, but 40% were not going into employment as a result of poor education for small children and lack of flexibility in the workforce (not many part time jobs). It was also because women were expected to stay home and look after children. It is worth mentioning that in modern France this is not necessarily the case anymore.
Therefore, Moldova is on its right way of institutionalizing gender. Nonetheless, there is always scope for improvement?
Ecaterina Sanalatii
Two months passed since Dorin Chirtoaca was elected Mayor of Chisinau. It seems that the new mayor is doing his best in keeping his promises ? he is tackling existing problems and doing what others failed to do ? transforming the city and making it more European.
In the past two mont hs the 28 years old mayor managed to open the ground for important dialogues in many social and economic spheres. Since Chirtoaca’s election as Chisinau Mayor this past June 17, the City Hall has witnessed discussions with various foreign diplomats - Ukrainian Ambassador Sergei Pirozhkov, Honorary Consul of Cyprus in Moldova Kyriakos Nicolas Pattihis, Head of the Political and Economic Department of the European Commission’s Moldova Country Office Paolo Berizzi, and other. Moreover, from the second day in the office, Dorin Chirtoaca paid a visit to Traian Basescu, Romanian President, which cannot be said about the Moldovan authorities, which failed to congratulate the new mayor with his post.
While the Moldovan President and the Prime Minister remained cold hearted to the newly elected candidate, Dorin Chirtoaca opened an international dialogue with the US Ambassador Michael Kirby. The U.S. Ambassador said his country stands ready to further help Moldova in its development, to invest in the Moldovan economy and to thus promote the republic’s economic development. The Chisinau City Hall has inherited debts in the value of millions from the previous city governors. This along with problems linked to central heating and hot water supply and others, such as the Transnistrian conflict settlement, attracting FDI, were discussed by the mayor and the ambassador.
From this meeting only, it truly seems that he is negotiating to achieve policies which he has proposed when he came in power.
- develop business environment, attract investments, create jobs
- build social apartments for disadvantaged and young families, encourage mortgages which are supported by the government
- free competition in emerging market;
- repair roads and achieve European standards in this area and that of providing services (i.e.: cleaning roads, providing street lighting, bystreets and internal courtyards, etc.)
- modernize and optimize the residual water cleaning station through European finances, and build a waste processing plant.
Dorin Chirtoaca started honouring his electoral promises regarding the business environment. Thus, he intends to initiate discussions referring to the prolongate by five years the validity term of the authorization for the location of commercial units and provision of services, which economic agents obtain from the Chisinau Mayoralty, DECA-pres communicates. Dorin Chirtoaca mentioned that ?The Mayoralty wants to cooperate with economic agents, and not prohibit their activity or influence them?. He asserts that the Mayoralty and the economic agents have a common goal ? development of the capital. He called the economic agents to insure a fruitful cooperation in order to carry out this goal.
A young mayor, a liberal team ? a European capital! This was the slogan of the new mayor of Chisinau and it looks like he is truly getting there, even if the process has just been initiated.
Ecaterina Sanalatii and Ana Barbacari
One of the initial purposes of immigration is to invest into human capital. This is a quick solution that a government can offer to train, develop skills and knowledge, provided that those that immigrate return to their home country. This is a much cheaper and quicker measure rather than a reform in education, which as experience shows takes decades. There is evidence that this works, especially in transition countries ? Kazakhstan being just one example. It also is a way to establish business and trade links by those that immigrate, as well as contact for future partnership and development between skilled students, workers, companies and government, and finally monitor the flow of migration and immigration. It should be kept in mind that in our modern society, immigration is an unavoidable consequence of globalization. The problem in Moldova, however, is that it acts more as a supplier of skilled workers and capable students, rather than engage in circular immigration. The challenge is to become beneficiaries and not only contributors of skilled workers and future skilled workers.
The causes of immigration are somewhat clear. There are many push and pull factors that make students and workers want to leave their country. Researchers for example are attracted by the innovative climate in the west, as well as available funds invested in their work. Alike all the other skilled workers and students they are undervalued and highly underpaid in Moldova. The country is in transition and it cannot provide funds for ?research and development, science, technology based industries and the health care sector? (UNICEF CAPES). These happen to be the sectors that Western Europe and America are most willing to invest into, due to the nature of their economy which is currently mainly based on 3rd and 4th sectors of production. Consequently these are the areas where they lack skilled workers. This causes, to name but a few, cause skilled workers and employers to settle abroad.
Should these skilled workers have returned home and applied their newly gained skills they would ameliorate some aspects of the society and contribute to the economic growth of the company. For example Alina Postolachi, a former HMC scholar returned to her home town Balti and developed the activities in Moldova of Council for Unity, an international NGO. Even though she then went to America for training she decided to return home. During her studies in the UK she actively engaged in fundraising for children that suffer from tuberculosis in her home country. Even though she accepted a further scholarship to complete her A-Levels, she decided to return home. Unfortunately, this is not the case of all the scholars. Many of them upon completing their studies in the UK or elsewhere refuse to return home, at least because Moldavian universities, despite signing the Bologna Protocol, do not accept UK certificates.
If the causes of immigration are clear, there is no empirical evidence to its consequences. Nevertheless, one consequence is clear ? Moldova is losing its most skilled citizens and unless it undertakes policies it will be hard to improve its economic performance without these people. It should attempt to invest into human capital and incentivize them to stay in their country. It should provide conditions for academic research and invest into higher education. It should also manage its unemployment rates, so that upon completion people have a workplace. Above all, it should stimulate circular migration so that the desires of young Moldovans to travel, study and work abroad are satisfied, yet all the time keep in mind the need to bring them back.
Ecaterina Sanalatii
?Since the approval of the EU-Moldova European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan, Moldova?s authorities are seeking to obtain autonomous trade preferences from the EU. To qualify for these additional trade preferences, the authorities have passed reforms to improve the control of the rules of origin. Growth of Moldova?s exports to the EU is also conditional to progress in compliance with EU product regulations and conformity assessment procedures. The work on rules of origin and quality control is among the key directions of the government?s export promotion policy in 2007.? - European Neighborhood Policy: Economic Review of EU Neighborhood Countries, European Economy Occasional Papers, Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
In recent years, Moldova is indeed making steps towards trade liberalization. It was one of the first CIS countries to join the WTO, becoming a member in 2001. It also comes without saying that its trade got significantly liberalized during its transition from state planned to a market economy. Yet, there is potential scope for improvement. This is mainly because of the weak business environment in Moldova. The main ?bitterness? is represented by the Moldovan protectionist policies. It is understandable that tariffs are implemented in an attempt to reduce the trade deficit (a tariff for the consumer is in essence a rise in price, and by increasing the price of goods and services the government is trying to reduce the demand for imported goods). Nonetheless, it has an adverse effect, as this protection leads to a reduction in the FDI flow and reluctance to trade and compete on Moldovan markets. ?The government itself recognizes that Moldova has one of the highest regulatory compliance costs among the countries of the region,? noted the European Commission in its occasional report. It also, in my view, should be understood that this protection leads to less agreements between Moldova and other markets, as for example the European Market. I drew a graph that in essence shows the benefits of trade for both parties engaging in a market with no protectionist policies (in this case tariffs).
Consider any competitive industry. The market price in Moldova would be located at P1 (demand would increase as price would go down and supply would increase as price would go up and the market price would be the equilibrium between the two, ceteris paribus). The EU is a more competitive industry and its size would rend the price equal to supply and demand (if an industry would decide to increase the price of the good or service the consumer would switch to a different economic player available on the market. For this reason the price stays fixed). If Moldova trades in the industry with EU, prices are imported at P2. It is already better, as it is cheaper than on the domestic market. However, if Moldova was to abolish tariffs on imports the price would be even higher. The same is true if the industry would export to the EU. In the case of a bilateral agreement, if Moldova would not be subject to tariffs it would be in position where it is able to trade on the European Market. The trade advantage represented by the increase in the quantity of goods and services exported is represented by the shaded triangles. There is no secret that as the quantity of exports increases, trade deficit decreases.
This, however, is a dream scenario for the Republic. Currently, not only Moldova does not engage in competitive trade with the EU, but it also is in a trade deficit! Moldovan imports continue to increase. While imports increased by 15% in 2006 (29% in 2005), exports remained the same, thus ?the trade deficit surged to nearly 49% GDP, up from 41% in 2005?. (ENP Review)
After Moldova will solve its problem with exporting wine to Russia, its exports are expected to recover. Hopefully, it will also try and export its products to the EU. Nonetheless, imports are expected to increase as well therefore the success in the next years of reducing the trade deficit and achieving a better economic growth depends on the policies that will be implemented by the authorities with regard to trade liberalization.
Ecaterina Sanalatii
The share of monetary transactions sent by Moldavian migrant workers back to their families, accounts for 27% of the country?s GDP. In this way, Mo
ldova is ranked second in the world after Togo, in the list of countries with economies that depend on money sent from abroad. According to the newly published report ?Moldova ? migration problems?, the share of money send from abroad increased from 8% in 1999 to 27% in 2006. The experts predict that the flow of money from abroad continues to grow. For money transfers, Moldavian citizens mostly use Western Union (more than 50%), Money Gram, UniStream, Strada Italia and Rus Express, cited today reporter.md.
It is not surprising that, in the first place this flow is correlated with the number of people that leave abroad, legally and illegally, in search of a job and a better life. With more and more Moldovan 
citizens receiving Romanian and Bulgarian citizenships, the number of holiday workers increased substantially when the former and the latter joined the EU, thus allowing them to freely travel in the Union. However, these accession countries do not yet have full right to work and these immigrants are usually employed in the illegal or low-class working sector. In addition the number of people immigrating to Russia has also increased, especially in the summer months, when workers are in demand in the building sector. To make matters worse ? many join their friends and family, who are already abroad.
Secondly, this phenomenon is correlated with the high level of inflation in the country. Some economists say that it rises as a result of a successful economic performance in the last years. However, this is not necessary the case. As more people immigrate and 
the flow of money increases, the purchasing power parity of those that receive the money increases as well. It is then not a secret that as people have more money they spend more, in other words the demand for goods and services increases significantly and drives prices up. In this way, the high rate of inflation is far from being an indicator of a good economic performance. This has a negative multiplier effect ? those that receive normal wages can no longer afford buying goods and services, often even basic ones, this leads to debt, exploitation of the workforce as people look for more jobs, corruption, crime etc. It also contributes to the creation of two strata ? those of the very rich and those of that are extremely poor, destroying the middle class society.
The government should thus change its approach to immigration. Currently, the government perceives any immigration abroad as a negative factor. However not all immigration is bad. For example those that study abroad are potential skilled workers. The government would better-off the economy if it would give grants and scholarships and bring back educated and skilled workers, in the long run benefiting the whole of the society by investing into human capital.
Ecaterina Sanalatii
The territory of Republic of Moldova is well-known for its fertile soils. This is perhaps the countries valuable asset and with the help of the unavoidable sun in this part of Europe, it is also an amazing territory for the production of quality wine. The temperate Black Sea nearby and the continental climate, as well as the structure of the soil - do the magic. There are long-established vineyards which are situated in the best sites with model climate (wet in winter and dry in summer). They also do the magic for the local economy, which has seen both progress and decline in the course of its history.
One of the most recent problems which Moldova has confronted with regard to the wine industry was in 2006, when Russia’s chief sanitation officer, Gennady Onishchenko, announced a ban on the import of Moldovan wines. He posted a health risk on Moldavian wines, which apparently contained pesticides, heavy metals, and other hazardous substances. The heavy metal, however, was felt as an effect on the local economy, rather than a cause.
The effects of this event have been devastating. Moldova’s trade deficit with Russia ballooned to $193 million from January to November 2006, compared to an $86 million surplus during the same period in 2005. The industry suffered a strong recession (causing the same effect for the rest of the economy). Most industries closed. The problem was that the capital (especially heavy machinery) from such an industry can not be shifted elsewhere. Moreover, companies were not announced of a potential threat to this sector and continued producing vast quantities of wine ? in search of economies of scale and further abnormal profits. Unfortunately, this was not the case and all the wine had to stay in the country. The supply of the product caused the prices to fall to such an extent, that it is no surprise to see Chardonnay 1987 at the price of 2USD per bottle. Moldova’s National Statistics Bureau estimates that industrial production dropped by 6.9 percent in 2006 compared to 2005. This was the first time in six years that Moldova has posted such a loss.
Russia’s criticism of the safety of Moldovan wine has also had the effect of reducing confidence of potential buyers elsewhere. Moreover, trade was impossible as a result of tariffs between Moldova and the EU (as a potential example). Moldova would have to compete against a free market and against other countries which have long established trade in this sector (such as Chile and New Zealand). Because of a bumper harvest in many regions of the world, Moldova’s standard wine prices are not as far below those of other countries as they once were.
The response of Moldova on such a movement, which many observers criticized as a political one, was threatening Russia with blocking its entry to the World Trade Organization. Therefore, the two countries leaders reached an agreement, whereby Moldova would support Russia’s entry into the WTO, and Russia would lift its embargo on Moldovan wines.
Recently, Moldova implemented new programs of standards and controls. There were introduced diverse requirements to the winemakers such as a state certificate stamp for export, a number on the bottle which may allow the consumers or the inspector find the wine history on the website database. In addition, Moldovan government has codified the way Moldovan wine is labelled. Nevertheless, it is imperative that the country?s leaders reach an agreement with countries other than Russia in order to reduce the trade deficit and save the economy from another recession and to save all those companies, many of which are creating jobs and otherwise benefit the economy.
by Ecaterina Sanalatii and Ana Barbacari
Disadvantage and weakness have been coupled with Moldovan women for decades; limitations derived from stereotypes, female responsibilities, and elusiveness in private life and men?s superiority in decision-making, in public life and most times in the household. Beautiful, intelligent and inspired by modernity, what is their role in the society now?
