Romania has a life expectancy of 73 years, higher than the global average. HIV and tuberculosis prevalence are lower than global averages. Men are more likely to smoke regularly than women. While few women hold parliamentary seats or cabinet positions, gender equality legislation passed in 2002 outlawed discrimination and violence. The gender pay gap increased from 2002-2010 contrary to EU trends. Secondary education attainment for women rose from 61-67.8% from 2002-2011, narrowing the gap with men. The institutional framework for gender issues involves several government and non-government organizations working cooperatively.

1. “Everybody can do it”
(ECDI)
High School
“Stefan
Procopiu”
Vaslui, Romania
March 2014

2. Health
In Romania, the
life expectancy at birth is 73
years for both sexes, females
have a higher life expectancy
average rate with 77 years,
whereas men can expect an
average of 70 years. Thus,
men and women have a higher
life expectancy compared to
the global average of 66 years
for men and 71 years for
women.

3.  Prevalence of HIV occurs at only 1 case per 1000
adults aged from 15-49 years, which is far below
the average of 8 cases globally.
 The prevalence of tuberculosis is also lower with
168 cases per 100000 population, than the global
average with 201 cases.
 Tobacco smoking shows a moderate contrast
between the genders; 45,5% of 15+ years old men
are regular smokers, but only 24,1% of women
smoke regularly.
 Not such a large contrast however throughout the
percentages of obesity; 16,3% of the male adult
20+ population and 19,0% of females are
considered to suffer from obesity

4. Political Empowerment and
Participation
Only 11.2 % of Parliamentary
seats are held by women,
while few women have been
served in the cabinet in the
past
In the upper chamber,
the Senate, the
percentage of women
elected to office stayed
in the single digits, albeit
it increased from 1% in
1990 to 9% in 2004, and
then decreased again to
6% in 2008.

5. Political Empowerment and
Participation
Starting with the year 2000, women appointed
to head a ministry were typically in charge of
the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the
Family and Social Protection, or the Ministry of
Youth, all ministries corresponding to
professional categories traditionally associated
with women.
Two women also headed the Ministry of Justice
and the Ministries of Tourism and the
Environment.

6. Gender Equality Legislation
In 1997, the Romanian
Parliament decided to
create a sub-committee
for the equality of
opportunity for men and
women.
It was reactivated in the
year 2000
Since 2004 the sub-
committee has been
headed by a woman:
Cristina Pocora
The subcommittee, along with
members of regional and
national non-governmental
organizations helped draft the
“Law for Equality of
Opportunity among Men and
Women”, Law 202, which was
passed in 2002.
This document outlawed
gender-based discrimination
and incriminated domestic
violence and it emphasized
equal access to education,
health services, cultural
activities, as well as the
principle of equal pay for equal
work.

7. Gender pay gap
Women are significantly underrepresented in economic decision-making
positions in Romania as well as in the EU
Only 10.0% of board positions in large companies are occupied by women (EU-
27: 14.0%). Moreover, this value has been declining significantly from 21.0% to 10.0%
since 2010, contrary to the EU-trend.
In 2010 the average female employee in Romania earned 12.5% less than the
average male employee, which is a smaller gap than the overall EU-27 average of
16.4%. However, in comparison to the year 2006 (-7.8%), the gender pay gap increased
substantially by 5.7 pp. This negative trend is contrary to the EU-wide tendencies of
reducing the gender pay gap.

8. Qualification level and choice of education
Secondary school (secondary
education) attainment of Romanian
women has risen from 61.0% in 2002
to 67.8% in 2011
In comparison to Romanian men in
2011, women still attain less
secondary education (67.8% vs.
73.4%), but the rates show a positive
development, since this gap has
decreased over time.

9. In 2011, 13.4% of Romanian women attained tertiary
education. Compared to the year 2002 (7.5%), this
represents an increase of 5.9 pp.
Also, the difference between the male and female rate
(0.8 pp) represents one of the smallest gaps between
the genders in tertiary education in the whole EU-27
group in 2011

10. Romanian women are strongly
engaged in the typically-male fields of
study such as "Science, math and
computing" and "Engineering,
manufacturing and construction". For
these fields, Romania obtains the
highest values among the whole EU-27
(52.8% and 30.4%). This reflects the
education strategy of the
centralized, planned system, before
1990, which relied to a large extend on
the industrial sector.

11. Institutional framework for gender issues
The institutional framework for promoting equal opportunities functions mainly at
the national level and is based on permanent cooperation between:
•the National Council for Combating Discrimination set up by Government Decision
No. 1194/2001, under the aegis of the government;
•MMSSF, through its Department for Equal Opportunities for Men and Women;
the Inter-Ministerial Consultative Commission in the field of equal opportunities for
men and women (established in 1999 to promote the gender dimension in
employment strategies);
•the Economic and Social Council through one of its specialized commissions, the
Commission for Equal Opportunities for Men and Women. In this body, social
partners debate legislative proposals and draft laws that address gender issues;
•the Parliamentary Commission for EU Integration, through its special Sub
commission for Equal Opportunities;
•the social partners; and non-governmental organizations.