TERRITORIAL IDENTITY AND DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 / No. 1, Spring 2019 ISSN 2537 - 4850 ISSN–L 2537 - 4850 THE NEED OF LOCAL IDENTITY IN POLITICS. THE CASE OF WOMEN MAYORS IN THE NORTH-EAST REGION OF ROMANIA Andreea Daniela FEDOR Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Faculty of Geography and Geology, ROMANIA andreea.fedor@yahoo.com Corneliu IAȚU Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Faculty of Geography and Geology, ROMANIA corneliu.iatu@gmail.com Marinela ISTRATE Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Faculty of Geography and Geology, ROMANIA marinelaistrate75@yahoo.com DOI: http://doi.org/10.23740/TID120194 ABSTRACT Women’s involvement in politics is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon in Romania, following very contradictory and sinuous trends: starting from a high rate of female participation in the political life during the Communism (only as representatives, but not as decision-makers), to an abrupt drop in the 1990s, when politics was male-dominated, to, finally, a rise of female presence in this field, especially when Romania joined EU. Given these premises, the study aims to offer an overview on women’s representation in politics at local level, for the 2016 elections, and to understand if there is a connection between the local identity of a future female candidate within the community and her success during the electoral campaign; we have tried to identify the key elements, if any, for a greater presence of women in the politics and if any gender stereotypes are manifested in the studied rural communities; estimating the Romania’s probability to have, in the more or less distant future, a greater presence of women in political life, both in urban and rural areas. Keywords: political identity, women, local administration, elections INTRODUCTION Gender equality is an important topic found in all European countries, in all political discourses and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as an attempt to ensure that this principle, which has become a real mark of Europe, works not only at the EU level, but also at a national and local level. But there are still significant differences between the European discourse and the daily political life. Women’s participation in political life is a complex process, multidimensional, determined by the electoral system of each country, the level of economic development, cultural heritage and barriers present in all environments, being at the same time, a natural consequence of socio-economic conditions and a sequel of gender segregation within the labour market, with all the consequences that derive from these (gender pay gap, feminization of poverty, etc.) (Cickaric, 2015). The concern about the women’s involvement in