Parliament Secretariat pledges to promote a gender-responsive human resources management

The training was conducted in a context where women in the Parliament Secretariat represent 2/3 of the employees, according to the first Gender Audit Report of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, developed by UNDP in 2015. The Audit stated that the low salaries were the main reason of women’s over-representation. One of the experts’ recommendations was to introduce a stipulation on parental leave in the Regulation of the Parliament.

The training was organized by UN Program ‘Women in Politics’, implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with East Europe Foundation and ‘Partnership for Development’ Center, financially supported by the Government of Sweden.

“The seminar convinced me that gender equality is a topic that should to be discussed further and even in the everyday life, during children's education or when writing some messages. Now, I know how to see the difference. I will also be more careful in writing texts and developing documents, so that gender would be respected,” said Olesea Berestean, Head of the Visits and Public Relations Section of the Directorate Communication and Public Relations of the Parliament Secretariat of the Republic of Moldova.

During the two-day training, the participants discovered new practices of gender-responsive human resources management. They discussed such topics as raising the gender awareness of public employees, the manager’s role in ensuring gender mainstreaming in the subdivision work, management of meetings from a gender perspective, and internal and external gender-responsive communication.

Stela Belitei, Head of the Territorial Information Office of the RM Parliament, based in Edinet, mentioned that this training gave her the chance to exchange views and experience with her colleagues. “I made my own conclusion on how the private sector works compared with the public one in the area of human resources management. Although many things are obvious in theory or even in our minds, unfortunately, we don’t apply them in practice. Thanks to this training, we will take into account all lessons learned related to human resources management in the civil service.”

A recent study conducted by UNDP Moldova recommends to public institutions to develop some institutional policies to encourage and stimulate married women or women with children or caring of elderly persons to participate in professional development activities. At the same time, the transparency on the employment opportunities and career advancement needs to be strengthened.