The Gender Gap Report — Special Issue: Romania's Rights Hierarchy

Romania occupies a distinctive place in Southeast Europe: a country shaped simultaneously by European integration, rapid social transformation, and persistent conservative backlash. Young Romanians overwhelmingly agree that poor people and young people lack sufficient rights, yet profound divisions emerge when questions turn to gender, sexuality, and identity. On nearly every issue measured, young women are more likely than young men to perceive rights deficits — but the size of that divide varies dramatically depending on the group in question. Most strikingly, LGBTQ+ rights emerge as the single greatest fault line between young Romanian men and women, revealing not merely different policy preferences, but sharply divergent understandings of fairness itself.

The latest special issue of The Gender Gap Report, authored by Semir Dzebo and based on the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s 2024 Southeast Europe Youth Study surveying 1,145 young people aged 14–29 in Romania, offers a detailed examination of how young Romanians perceive rights, inequality, and social hierarchy. Which groups are seen as lacking rights — and which are perceived as already having too many? Why do gender differences become especially pronounced on sexuality and women’s rights, while largely disappearing on questions of race, immigration, and economic disadvantage? And what does Romania’s unusually large gender divide reveal about the broader tensions shaping the country’s political and social future?

This special issue examines Romania’s emerging rights hierarchy through a combination of rights perception data, attitude measures, and regional comparisons. Semir Dzebo shows that while economic solidarity remains one of the few areas of broad consensus, issues tied to gender and sexuality increasingly divide young men and women into distinct social camps. Crucially, the findings challenge the assumption that generational change automatically produces liberal convergence: in Romania, political progressivism among young men does not necessarily translate into support for LGBTQ+ rights, while young women consistently express a broader sensitivity to inequality across multiple domains. Understanding these dynamics is essential for anyone seeking to navigate Romania’s evolving debates over identity, rights, and social cohesion in the years ahead.