Radio România Internațional

Tag: women

  • July 30, 2017 UPDATE

    July 30, 2017 UPDATE

    DEFENCE – The Supreme Defence Council is to convene in Bucharest on Tuesday. The agenda of the meeting, chaired by President Klaus Iohannis, includes a presentation of the Plan of equipment procurement for the Romanian Army in 2017-2026. The plan provides for the implementation of a commitment made in 2015 by all political parties, with respect to earmarking 2% of the GDP for the defence sector for 10 years, starting in 2017. The latest Defence Council meeting was held on July 4, but at that time the Plan for army equipment procurement was withdrawn from the agenda of the meeting, in order to be adjusted to the politically agreed target of earmarking 2% of the GDP to this sector.





    HEALTHCARE – The Romanian Healthcare Minister, Florian Bodog, hopes Parliament will pass the new vaccination law quickly. He also welcomed the decision of Ludovic Orban, president of the National Liberal Party in opposition, to support compulsory vaccination. In turn, PM Mihai Tudose said in an interview on the public radio that the current situation requires the introduction of compulsory vaccination. On Thursday, the Cabinet discussed a draft law on vaccination, laying down responsibilities both for the authorities and healthcare staff, and for parents. The bill is designed to regulate the organisation and funding of vaccination in Romania, as well as to raise awareness on the benefits, safety, quality and possible adverse reactions to immunisation. The bill also provides for a national reserve stock covering at least the annual vaccine needs, with doses valid for at least one and a half years. The bill was drafted after the large number of measles cases and deaths caused by this disease prompted the World Health Organisation to include Romania in the 5 countries that total over 80% of the number of cases reported worldwide.




    TRAFFICKING – July 30 was the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, proclaimed by the UN 4 years ago in order to put an end to this crime and protect its victims. Statistics show that millions of people around the world, particularly vulnerable women and girls, are sold every year in modern slavery. The victims are recruited from poverty-striken countries and become subject to various forms of exploitation. This week alone, the authorities in Italy and Spain have found scores of Romanians exploited by their employers in those countries. The Romanian PM Mihai Tudose said the Minister for the Romanians living abroad Andreea Păstârnac would receive increased powers, so as to make sure that no Romanian citizen living abroad would be discriminated against. In this context, Mihai Tudose is to have a meeting in Bucharest on Monday with the Ambassador of Spain to Bucharest, Ramiro Fernandez Bachiller, and with Minister Andreea Păstîrnac.




    SECURITY – The security challenges currently facing Romania and NATO member states will be discussed in an event taking place in Bucharest between July 31 and August 5 and entitled ‘Defence and Dialogue in Eastern Europe’ (DDEE). International experts and Romanian officials will talk about hybrid threats, recent misinformation campaigns and large-scale cyber-attacks. Attending the event organised by Euro Atlantic Diplomacy Society will be around 200 young people from 36 countries.




    NATO – A British destroyer and a Turkish frigate are in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta for 2 days. They are part of the standing NATO group which, together with Ferdinand frigate of the Romanian Navy have taken part in joint training sessions and in sea traffic monitoring missions. On board the British destroyer, the commander of the standing NATO maritime group James Borley said the Alliance has a constant presence at the Black Sea because some riparian countries are also members of the Organisation.




    TERRORIST PLOT – The Australian security forces have foiled a presumably Islamist terror plan to detonate a bomb targeting an airplane, and four individuals have been arrested, PM Malcolm Turnbull has announced, according to AFP. He added that security was tightened in Australian airports. A total of 12 terrorist plots have been foiled in Australia and some 60 people have been sent to court since the alert level was raised in September 2014. Australia is taking part in the US-led international coalition conducting air raids against the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq and Syria since the summer of 2014.




    SPORTS – Romania won 8 medals, 5 silver and 3 bronze, at the 2017 summer edition of the European Youth Olympics Festival, which came to an end on Saturday in Gyor (Hungary). On the last day of the competition the Romanian athletes won 3 more silver medals. The womens handball team lost the final to the host team, Hungary, 30-23, the tennis player Nicholas David Ionel was defeated in the final by the Italian Lorenzo Rottoli, and athlete Cristian Gabriel Voicu won the silver in the 800 m race. Romanias delegation in this edition of the Festival was made up of 77 athletes, competing in athletics, cycling, gymnastics, handball, swimming, judo, rowing and tennis.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • March 8, 2017

    March 8, 2017

    INTL WOMENS DAY – The International Womens Day is celebrated today in many countries. In Romania, where according to the latest data made public by the National Statistics Institute more than 10 million women live, women are celebrated in a series of debates, exhibitions, concerts, book launches and other events. The European Parliament is hosting a meeting of the Committee on Womens Rights and Gender Equality, with the theme Womens Economic Empowerment: Lets Act Together! the International Womens Day was first marked in the early 20th Century, after an organisation sponsored a meeting on womens rights in New York.



    EUROPEAN COUNCIL – A “multi-speed Europe as a solution to give fresh impetus to the European project after Brexit will be the focus of talks at the European Council meeting due on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, where Romania will be represented by President Klaus Iohannis. The two-speed Europe idea, backed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, is also strongly supported by France and Germany, which were joined on Monday in Versailles by Italy and Spain. Romania will oppose this plan, as the President pointed out once again on Tuesday in Bucharest. In turn, the Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu will present Romanias stand in Brussels today, at the meeting of the Party of European Socialists. Other countries are also concerned with the prospect of becoming second-level member states. These include the members of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), who have already opposed Brussels policy on migration.



    RESIGNATION – The former prime minister of Romania, Deputy Victor Ponta, has today announced he is submitting his undated resignation from the Social Democratic Party, and leaving it to the party president Liviu Dragnea to make a decision in this respect. Ponta added that he and Dragnea no longer worked together. Dragnea replied that he would never agree with the ex-PM leaving the party. The announcement comes after many speculations in the media regarding the cold relations between the two leading Social Democrats. In 2015, Ponta became the first PM in office to be subject to criminal investigations for corruption offences, and in the same year he stepped down as head of the party and of the government, amid massive street protests. Dragnea took over the presidency of the Social Democratic Party. In 2016, Dragnea himself received a suspended 2-year prison sentence, for attempted election fraud, and is currently on trial in a separate corruption case.



    MILITARY – The Atlantic Resolve and Poseidon 2017 multinational military exercises continue today at the “Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in south-eastern Romania and in the Black Sea. For the first time, 8 American helicopters are taking part in the drills. They were deployed from several European countries, as part of the US commitment to strengthen the eastern flank of NATO. This is the first such unit deployed to Eastern Europe, as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which brings together over 2,200 troops, 86 helicopters and over 700 pieces of military equipment sent from several American ports to Germany, Latvia and Romania. Also today, a sea survey vessel, Alexandru Cătuneanu is conducting research training at sea.



    ITB BERLIN – 40 tour-operators from Romania are taking part until Sunday in the Berlin Travel Trade Show, the largest such fair in the world. According to a news release issued by the Romanian Tourism Ministry, destinations from around the country will be presented. Romanias stand will also host egg painting demonstrations, and folk costume and traditional jewellery design workshops. During a Romanian-themed evening, traditional Romanian music, dance and cuisine will be introduced to visitors. The Tourism Minister, Mircea-Titus Dobre, is taking part today, on the first day of the trade show, in the Silk Road Ministers Meeting, an event organised by the World Tourism Organisation. Tomorrow, the Romanian official will have meetings with his counterparts from Poland, Serbia, and Ukraine, and then he will give an address at the Danube Salon, a conference devoted to joint tourism projects by riparian countries. Romania has been taking part in this trade show since 1970.



    TENNIS – The Romanians Sorana Cirstea (66 WTA) and Monica Niculescu (45 WTA) are playing against each other today in the opening round of the Premier Mandatory tournament of Indian Wells, in the USA, with 6.9 million US dollars in prize money. Three other players from Romania, Simona Halep (4 WTA), Irina Begu (32 WTA) and Patricia Tig (99 WTA) are also playing in the tournament. Halep and Begu are playing in the second round. Last year Simona Halep was eliminated from the quarter-finals of this tournament by world no. 1 Serena Williams.

  • Women and Business

    Women and Business


    Equal opportunity and encouraging SMEs, two of the fundamental policies of the EU, can contribute to emerging out of the crisis, whether we talk about global or personal crises. The solution may depend on daring women and the opportunities offered for their entrepreneurship. In 2013, according to EU statistics, businesswomen accounted for only 34.4% of the self-employed European entrepreneurs, holding only 30% of newly created businesses. However, their number seems to be growing. Late last year, Bucharest hosted the first fair for businesswomen in Romania, B-Fair, organized by an association called “Women in Business”. Set up in 2009 by a young entrepreneur, the organization comes in support of women who want to build a business, helping them find the information and support they need. The fair is an extension of this network where people exchange experiences. Adina David is a press officer with the association:



    Adina David: “This year we’ve held B-Fair for the first time. Generally we organize business networking sessions with women speakers, but the fair managed to bring together businesses run by women in a more official and general venue, where they could showcase their products, in addition to networking.”



    B-Fair was attended by 20 companies with exhibitions, and was visited by between 200 and 300 people during the weekend. The participating companies, most of them set up or run by women, were not just SMEs. Many large companies, even multinationals, have women managers and make products aimed at women. We asked Adina David if companies run by women generally cater to women, and if they have a propensity for catering to certain areas:



    Adina David: “We did notice an inclination towards certain areas considered typical of women, such as consultancy or cosmetics. At the same time, a lot of ladies have opened businesses in the IT and automotive sectors.”



    Adina Filculescu is an attendee at B-Fair and member of the organization called Women in Business. She runs a business in an area where women dominate: flowers and event organizing. She started this business right after college, and she says she did not feel discriminated against in relation to men, and that she did not have to face additional hurdles for being a woman. However, she had a lot of hard work to do, but she says she did it happily:



    Adina Filculescu: “It is a lot of work, sometimes I work 17 hours a day, but I don’t feel tired, because I think of the outcome I desire, the satisfaction of the people around me, and my personal satisfaction. If I worked for someone else I may not have worked with such drive and pleasure. I had nights when I worked until the morning, and weekends when I couldn’t go to the mountains for a trip with friends. As for the bureaucracy, we all know how things are: you have to queue for some paperwork, or some tax payment. You have to adapt to each situation.”



    As a member of the Women in Business association, Adina Filculescu monitored the trends of the last few years, and here is what she found:



    Adina Filculescu: “A lot of women started looking into a business of their own, and even left their jobs with corporations or public institutions. They developed their own businesses in the areas that they liked. I noticed that passion was the basis for their choice. On top of the capital needed to open a business, they needed a lot of courage to change their life from that of an employee to that of an entrepreneur.”



    Their courage came from the drive to be independent, and from the emergence of personal priorities: family and children. Here is Adina David once again:



    Adina Filculescu: “While working at multinationals, they have little time for their families, and especially when the first child appears, they really don’t have enough time for their families anymore. That is why they choose to become entrepreneurs, which gives them a flexible schedule. In addition, even though multinationals pay higher salaries, women can make their business grow, securing substantial incomes. The start is always difficult, but for many of them this is not a great impediment.”



    A lot of employees in public or private institutions, in their wish to be their own boss eventually, start a business after work, holding on to their day job. It is not easy, but the wish to be independent is overwhelming in those cases. It is also encouraged by EU institutions, which have already created a European network of mentors for women entrepreneurs, a division of the Directorate General for SMEs.