New legislative measures to support employed people with children will be adopted by the end of the current parliamentary session, MP Dan Perciun assured in a press club organized by the Center ”Partnership for Development” (PCD) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Tuesday, May 17. At the event, several representatives of the Parliament, Government, UNFPA and civil society answered press questions about the new legislation changes that will help parents to more easily combine career with family life.

On May 13, with the support of UNFPA, in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova was registered a legislative initiative which proposes several measures to support working parents and carers. These new provisions support families and businesses, and are a first response to the challenges and obstacles that exist in legislation and in society. The new options imply:

● Possibility to share childcare leave - until the child is three years old, both father and mother will be able to share the care leave in periods of at least 4 months;
● Extended period for requesting paternity leave - new working fathers will be able to request paternity leave in the first year after the child birth;
● Shorter term, higher income based on the new child raising allowance option - in addition to the two existing options, parents will be able to claim the allowance according to a new option, until the child turns 1 year and 2 months old, the amount being 90% of the income of one of the parents;
● Regulation of the flexible work schedule in the Labor Code by introducing new options: shorter work schedule, starting and ending the working day earlier/later, etc.

"By implementing these policies, we want to support families with young children in the Republic of Moldova, and offer them more opportunities in choosing both career and personal life. We propose that the new legislative support measures for working parents be adopted by the end of the current parliamentary session", declared the Head of the Parliamentary Commission on Social Protection, Health and Family, Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Dan Perciun. According to the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Marcel Spatari, the promotion and regulation of early children`s care services are part of the Governments priorities.

"Creating a legal framework for flexible working relationships and parental leaves is welcome to encourage the sharing of responsibilities between both parents, but it is necessary to provide solutions for childcare when parents are at work: more creches, regulation of nurse activities or other alternative individual care services. Currently, only 2 out of 10 children go to the creche", declared the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Marcel Spatari.

Present at the event, UNFPA Moldova Deputy Representative Natalia Plugaru underlined that the UN Population Fund's partnership with the Moldovan Parliament and the Government of Moldova supports transforming the countrys demographic challenges into opportunities for women and men by strengthening demographic resilience;

"The Generations and Gender Survey indicates an unfair division of childcare and household responsibilities. Registering this project is a first response to the challenges and obstacles that exist in both legislation and society, thus helping men and women to have the desired number of children, without having to choose between career or family", reiterated Natalia
Plugaru.

According to the Generations and Gender" Survey, only 5% of men always or most often do household chores such as cooking, cleaning or washing clothes, and only 5% of Moldovans feel that they have managed to achieve a work-life balance.

The press club is part of the UNFPA Demographic Resilience program, which aims to support the Republic of Moldova and other countries in the region in developing gender-sensitive demographic and family policies, to address the challenges of declining population, provide more opportunities and equal opportunities for women and men, to strengthen human capital and to define a prosperous future for all. This event is organized by the Partnership for Development Center under the project ”Expanding Choices: Gender Responsive Family Policies for the Private Sector in the Western Balkans and Moldova”, implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with the support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.