Around 100 women, representatives of ethnic minority groups gathered, for the first time, at the National Forum of Women from Ethnic groups - "Equal through difference, we involve in politics", which took place on May 5, 2015.

The forum aimed to bring together different ethnic minority women in Moldova - representing the communities of Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauz, Bulgarians, Roma, Hebrew, German, Polish, Azeri, Armenian and Belarusian - to identify barriers in their way to politics and decision-making processes.

"Besides the social and financial issues faced by women to get into politics or decision-making processes, we, women from ethnic minority groups, face one more problem - discrimination based on ethnicity," said Rada Padureanu, a young Roma woman.

Moreover, following the discussions that took place during the Forum, women proposed to create a common platform through which women from ethnic groups can have a voice in the debates, public hearings and other events of major interest. "This would be our first step to make ourselves heard and to show that women from ethnic groups want a greater involvement in decision-making and politics in Moldova", said Elena Terteac, representative of the ethnic group of Ukrainians.

DafinaGercheva, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Moldova, said that although, legally, women and men have equal rights, women are less likely than men to be represented in the decision making process at local and national level. "To be ensured the equality of rights and gender equality, women should enjoy equal opportunities in order to face all the challenges encountered on their way to success. But for this, we must break the stereotypes, to change the mentality - which requires time, strengthened effort and tenacity," pointed Dafina Gercheva.

Among the special guests of the forum was dr. Iurie Ciocan, president of Central Election Commission of Moldova, which encouraged women from ethnic groups to try their power and to run on party lists. "We make no distinction by ethnicity or age, we offer equal opportunities to all. Thus, we urge you to run either as counselor, as an independent candidate, or as a mayor", said dr. Iurie Ciocan.

According to international recommendations, Moldova committed to promote women in leadership positions by increasing the share of women's representation up 40% in local councils, 25% in district councils and 25% in positions of mayors by 2015.

The event was organized by the Interethnic Relations Bureau and the 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 Program (UNDP), in partnership with the East European Foundation and Center Partnership for Development, funded by the Swedish Government.