25 January 2007
Moldovan Politician Urges Women to Run for Office
Partnership for a Better Life
Acquiring political power and working together for common goals are the best ways women can bring about social change, says Olga Nicolenco, a women’s rights advocate and 2005 candidate for mayor of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.
"I wanted to show women that it is possible," Nicolenco said of her campaign. She works tirelessly to encourage other women to run for political office because "if you do not have power, you cannot do anything. If you have power, you can put all your talents in the service of society."
Nicolenco also believes that women in office should support each other and should work together to improve the lives of other women in their countries.
Like many other countries that achieved independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Moldova is struggling with its Soviet legacy, including an "old mentality" that "only a man can be chief, boss, director, minister, president," Nicolenco said. "I want to change this situation."
She wants more women from her own party in parliament, and a strong representation of women in all parties in the country.
Nicolenco came to Washington on a Reagan-Fascell Fellowship sponsored by the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a private, nonprofit group that provides grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working abroad to strengthen democratic institutions. NED receives an annual appropriation from Congress and contributions from foundations, corporations and individuals.
As the first woman from Moldova to be awarded the fellowship, Nicolenco is working on strategies to increase women's involvement in local public administration in her country, where she is head of the Chisinau chapter and permanent bureau member of her party, the Social Liberal Party (SLP). She has been instrumental in the establishment of the SLP’s women's caucus.
Looking ahead to local elections in Moldova in 2007, Nicolenco is working to convince women to run for elected positions such as town council members or mayor. More representation by women would help address problems involving schools, women and the elderly, she said.
Women candidates face unique challenges, she said, including having to overcome a higher level of poverty than men, a reluctance in the business community to support women candidates' campaigns, media coverage that is often biased against opposition candidates, and what Nicolenco calls "the mentality of the past" that expects women to stay at home.
"Unfortunately, women in Moldova don’t vote for women," Nicolenco said, adding that those women who do win office, such as the 22 female deputies in parliament, do not work together to advocate legislation or solve problems.
She said Moldovans have asked her if she plans to work in the United States following her fellowship. "I say definitely not. America is good without me. America doesn’t need me, but Moldova needs me."
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
