Gender Empowerment in Moldova. The Case of Mara Woman

One of the consequences of the mass migration of Moldova’s citizens abroad is a chronic lack of businesses and new enterprises. Many people, especially the young ones, get an education abroad but rarely return home to apply their acquired know-how in the country. Wages are too low and skilled workers are tempted by offers coming from neighbouring Romania, Russia or Europe.

Despite improvements in recent years, in 2014 Moldova ranked 110th in the Index of Economic Freedom. Fiscal, trade and business freedom are ranked high but extremely low scores regarding labour freedom and corruption are dragging the country down in the rankings. It is therefore rare to find young people risking opening a business which might have a limited chance of thriving.

Elena Scutaru is one of the exceptions. In 2013 she started a business called Mara Woman (the name is a homage to Romanian writer Ioan Slavici’s most famous novel, Mara) in the rural area of Scoreni, only a few kilometres away from Chisinau, in the Straseni district. Her business employs women to produce knitted clothes, such as scarves, bags, hats and gloves. Thanks to her efforts, Elena was, in 2014, awarded a diploma by the United Nations in Moldova for the economic empowerment of women in rural areas.

“When going abroad, women leave the kids with their grandmothers. Because of this process, life in the community breaks down. I wanted to show that bringing a business into a rural area is possible and sustainable.”

Why did you start a business in Scoreni?

It is my grandmother’s village. I used to go to hers during the summer and I had many friends there, mostly girlfriends. Now when I go there and ask my grandmother what happened to them, she says that they are all abroad, mainly in Moscow, which is the main destination for migrants in this village. This makes me really upset. And it is not just Scoreni, there is a total lack of opportunities in the villages throughout Moldova. Usually in a village there are a couple of shops, a school, the town hall and that is it. So I decided to create a knitting workshop in order to offer job opportunities to local women. When going abroad, women leave the kids with their grandmothers. Because of this process, life in the community breaks down. I wanted to show that bringing a business into a rural area is possible and sustainable.

How did you implement your project?

First, I thought that knitting is something that virtually every woman in the villages knows how to do. Most of our mothers are crocheting. It doesn’t require a huge investment in machinery. So I bought the equipment, hired two local women, then three, and started producing wool blankets, traditional Moldovan rags, socks and hats amongst other items. My dream is, step by step, to establish a small factory in the village, ideally ten women with a stable income, and then to move to another village with a similar idea to employ women. Secondly, I decided to pay them not by the piece but with a monthly salary. This is an extremely important aspect: to have a fixed income at the end of the month that you could rely on safely and consequently not be tempted by the idea of migrating.

How did you find the premises where to establish your workshop?

It is a kind of funny story. The mayor couldn’t give me a space to have my workshop. I think it is important for a woman to feel that she is going to work every day in the morning. Staying at home the whole day is not always inspiring. But in the village there was no building suitable for the purpose. The only place was an empty classroom at the local school. The school board asked me if I could speak English and I said yes. They offered me a deal: to teach English to some of the kids in exchange for the use of the premises. I accepted and everything started.

Would you consider your business as a combination of pro-women activism and social enterprise?

“The real problem is that when you go to villages to deliver training to locals on how to start a profitable business, people with capital and talent have already left.”

Honestly, the whole idea isn’t born from feminist principles. You should consider that Moldovan society as a whole is quite conservative. Women are expected to be with their children. Even men leave to work abroad, of course, but when a kid is raised here without a mother, I think it is far worse. That was the main point behind the project: to allow women to have a satisfying job without having to renounce their family, with all the implications that this decision might have on society. I have to say that, fortunately, there are a lot of organisations taking care of the welfare of women in Moldova: fighting domestic violence, empowering women and so on. But we don’t have to forget that men, too, in such a conservative and, at times, underdeveloped country, need rehabilitation. Women do everything here, inside and outside the house, they work and they take care of the children, but men are left behind, especially in economically depressed areas. Men should receive more training, more information about how to escape passivity in their life. It is a male-dominated society but the woman does everything. This creates an unbalanced situation. Going back to the workshop, my aim is not just empowering the ladies but to give them dignity through work. I like to see how their lives are changing, that they are more independent and simply happier. Having a small salary and more decision-making in the family, they can buy what they really need without having to ask their husbands for money. This is already a form of empowerment.

As a Moldovan, do you feel that ideas and efforts like yours are contributing to the growth of a new identity for the country?

I definitely feel like I am contributing to something. If you go abroad and work for someone it is not the same. I actually learned to be proud of my country while establishing a business here. Moldovans are not really proud of their country. We don’t have that many attractions to be proud of and our citizens have a tendency towards self-deprecation. I have been living and working abroad, in Cameroon and Pakistan, but I have never thought about migrating for good. It is a paradox but the lack of competition in Moldova makes it easier for businessmen and businesswomen to access the market. I also think that many people that could potentially start an enterprise here refuse because of the fear of widespread corruption in the society. Despite this being true, it is also an alibi for some people in order to not develop social entrepreneurial skills. The real problem is that when you go to villages to deliver training to locals on how to start a profitable business, people with capital and talent have already left. This is a shame.

How do you see the sociopolitical future of this country, from your perspective?

As far as I know, many European countries went through the same developing stage in the past. Migration towards more developed countries is nothing new. We are at this stage where our GDP depends considerably on remittances. A problem specific to Moldova though is that returning people don’t know how to use and invest their money wisely. They often only build bigger and nicer houses or they buy an apartment in Chisinau, that’s it. A lot could change in Moldova if they were investing part of their money for business-related purposes, especially creating something new in the villages. I think we wouldn’t have the same problems as we have now. Moreover, I don’t think the government is always very effective in explaining how EU integration would be a great advantage to us as a nation. We are fully aware that integration will not develop the country overnight, but it is a step well worth the effort.