Perceptions of the Population of the Republic of Moldova - Soros ...

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Perceptions of the Population of the Republic of Moldova on Discrimination: Sociological Study 26“Roma people are rejected and despised by the society, being looked at as second-class people. Roma pupilsand students do not have opportunities to study in their mother tongue. People of Roma ethnicity arediscriminated in the labor field, are not offered employment and are despised at workplace. They do not have fullaccess to quality medical services.”The high competition on the labor market, the low level of education of Roma people or, sometimes,even the lack of any education result in their exclusion from the labor market.“Children do not finish school; they do not have studies or specific qualifications to be able to accessemployment opportunities. Citizens of Moldova display little tolerance towards people who are different, andconsequently it is very difficult for Roma people to integrate.”The attitude towards Roma is fuelled in the experts’ opinion by a number of prejudices existing in thesociety regarding their deviant behavior. Because of such an attitude Roma people are deprived of theirright to participate in the decision-making process at both local and national levels.“There are a number of prejudices in the society regarding Roma. They are given as an example of badconduct even by the highest-ranking public officials. Also, given such prejudices, they do not have full access topublic offices, to health care and education services.”WomenAccording to the perception of the general public, women are discriminated most upon employment(+24), at workplace (+29) and in the political life (+19).During the Delphi study, the experts shared a similar opinion. Discrimination at workplace in theiropinion is expressed by the fact that women are hired to less valuable positions than men, are paid lessthan men and cannot advance in career similarly to men.“In the Republic of Moldova women comprise 53% of population and still the condition of women in oursociety is rather difficult, being affected by the consequences of the economic crisis, but also by their status ofmother and wife which they have often to combine with the status of family provider. In the Republic of Moldovawomen’s wage is about 72% of that of men, women are discriminated in the labor field based on theirmatrimonial status and age, because of the supposed amount of time they dedicate to family life.”The experts think also that the discrimination of women in political sphere is manifested by the lowpercentage of women in high-ranking positions in the Government Parliament, as well as in local anddistrict public administration.Some experts expressed the view that the discrimination of women has its roots in the Christianchurch. Thus, they think that “woman is discriminated by the Christian church, being viewed as a surplus, as anaid to man.”Thus, after analyzing the perception of the general public, as well as the experts’ opinions on the socialcontexts in which different groups are discriminated, we can conclude that most of the disadvantagedgroups are exposed to discrimination in various contexts. Thus, disabled people frequently facediscrimination upon employment, at workplace, in education and medical institutions and in relations withauthorities. HIV-positive persons are discriminated upon employment, at workplace, in medical andeducation institutions, as well as in their own families. Representatives of gay and lesbian community arediscriminated in family, in medical institutions, at workplace and in public life, being deprived of the rightto assembly and public manifestations. Women are discriminated in particular at workplace and in politicallife, being insufficiently represented in the political process at both national and local levels. In therespondents’ and experts’ opinions, the poor is one of the most disadvantaged and discriminated groups inthe Republic of Moldova. The chronic lack of financial resources limits their access to quality education andhealth services.After computing the Average Dominant Personal Opinion Index (ADPOI) of the general public for eachgroup, we can conclude that, depending on the seven analyzed social contexts, the most discriminatedgroups, in the respondents’ opinion, are: disabled people (-25), the poor (-25), and HIV-positive persons (-22), and the least discriminated: women (+34) and the Roma people (+10).
Perceptions of the Population of the Republic of Moldova on Discrimination: Sociological Study 273. Social distance between respondents and groups ofpeople exposed to discriminationSocial distance between respondents and groups of people exposed to discrimination was measuredusing the scale created by E.S. Bogardus, according to which positive personal attitudes towards certainpeople in certain situations are indicators of social distance. Thus, social distance between respondents andgroups of people exposed to discrimination was studied based on respondents’ attitudes towards thepotential hypotheses to have discriminated against people as neighbors, friends, co-workers, familymembers. The hypothesis tested while measuring social distance between respondents and discriminatedgroups was as follows: the degree of acceptance by the respondents of different discriminated groupsdecreases as they become closer to the respondents’ family.Next, we will analyze the degree of acceptance by the respondents of the following groups of people:persons with disabilities, representatives of gay and lesbian community, HIV-positive persons, the poor,elderly people, women and men.Social distance between the respondents and persons with disabilitiesAnalysis of social distance between the respondents and people with mental and physical disabilitiesconfirmed the above hypothesis: the degree of acceptance by respondents of people with mental andphysical disabilities is greater when such people are at a greater social distance from respondents and viceversa. Thus, it can be noted in the chart below that while 70% of respondents would personally accept tohave a person with physical disabilities as a neighbor, 66% would accept to have a person with physicaldisabilities as a co-worker, 63% would accept to have a person with physical disabilities as a friend, 60%would accept to have a person with physical disabilities studying together with their child, only 27% statedthat they would accept that a family member marries a person with physical disabilities (see Chart 9).As to people with mental disabilities, the degree of their acceptance by respondents in varioussituations is much lower than that of people with physical disabilities. Thus, it can be noted in Chart 9 thatonly 40% of respondents would accept a person with mental disabilities as a neighbor, 35% – as a coworker,31% – as a friend, 30% – as a classmate of their child and 8% – as a future member of the family.The share of people who would accept to have a person with physical disabilities as a neighbor ishigher among people with higher education (75%), Moldovans/Romanians (81%), Ukrainians (77%). Theshare of people that would accept to have a person with physical disabilities as a friend is higher in ruralareas (66%), among people with higher education (66%), Moldovans/Romanians (76%). The share of peoplewho would accept that a family member marries a person with physical disabilities is higher among thegroup of 18-34 year-old people (31%) and people of Russian ethnicity (32%).
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