Women in Transnistria are women who live in or are from Transnistria (may also be spelled as Transdniestria; and also known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, abbreviated as PMR).
Based on the census conducted in 2004, 54% of 555,000 people are composed of women; of which 21% of those women are aged over 60 years old.[1]
Based on the census conducted in 2004, 37% of women have been employed, while 19% were unemployed. Retired women were at 35%.[1]
According to the 2004 census, 50.1% of the population in Transnistria were students in the "professional and higher education" fields. 15.9% of the women have received higher education, but some may not have completed their higher education at educational institutions. 31.5% of the women received professional level education. 31.7% of the women received secondary level of education. 8.4 of the women received primary level of education.[1]
Although still a country with limited recognition internationally, and although Freedom in the World 2012 had described that "[w]omen are underrepresented in most positions of authority", the current Transnistrian government includes 8 women and 6 men. Prime Minister of Transnistria (Tatiana Turanskaya) and 3 Deputy Prime Ministers out of 4 are also women (Natalia Nikiforova, Nina Shtanski and Maija Parnas). Women are widely presented in Presidential Administration of Transnistria: both the head of Administration (Nadezhda Baranova)[2] and all the 5 presidential advisors (Alyona Klyus, Nadezhda Zablotskaya, Natalia Garbar, Anna Yanchuk and Galina Sandutsa)[3] are women.
Women are somewhat underrepresented as heads of State Administrations of cities and districts (raions) of Transnistria (only Rybnitsa district is headed by a woman), but are widely presented on posts of deputy heads of State Administrations. Currently 2 deputies out of 5[4] in Tiraspol administration, 2 out of 2[5] in Bendery administration, 2 out of 3[6] in Rybnitsa administration, 2 out of 3[7] in Dubăsari administration, 2 out of 3[8] in Grigoriopol administration and 2 out of 2[9] in Camenca administration are women.
Some women of Transnistria, including minors, have become victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and prostitution,[10] which are three of the major problems in the country. Most often, trafficked Transnistrian women and girls are brought to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.[11]