UN Women and Elena Sirbu are launching „Zoralé jiuvlia” – a campaign that promotes life stories of strong Roma women

"Among these stories you will find stories of elderly women who are entrepreneurs, stories of victims of violence who had the courage to go against the community believes and make another choice, women with special needs who bring change into their communities and other powerful stories. Through this campaign, Roma women will be able to share their experiences and the factors that determined them to change their lives,” said Elena Sîrbu, journalist of Roma origin herself, who travels around the country to collect these inspiring stories.

"Zoralé jiuvlia” in Romani language means „strong women”.

“UN Women has supported Roma women in Moldova since 2011. The UN Joint Program Women in Politics, with the support of the Government of Sweden, encouraged Roma women to participate to the vote in 2015 and helped the first Roma women to be elected to local councils,” says Ulziisuren Jamsran, UN Women Country Representative. “By collecting stories of strong Roma women and girls across the country, we aim to make Roma women more visible on Moldovan media, breaking traditional stereotypes. For women to count, they need to be visible – and especially their rights need to come to the forefront.”

UN Women Moldova invites mass-media to join the „Zoralé jiuvlia” campaign by publishing the 12 stories.

There will be produced three stories a month for the next 4 months. These stories will be printed in 2 newsletters and distributed across Moldova in September and October in order to start debates on breaking stereotypes and the importance of education.

UN Women is United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.