Why So Many Romanian Women Work In The Video-Chat Industry

This is an article about the video-chat industry in Romania and some of the girls who perform it. And, more importantly, it perfectly captures the choices many young Romanian women are facing either after finishing university, or as teenagers.

To better understand why video-chat is a fast-growing industry in Romania, first you need to know that the country is Europe’s second poorest, has one of the highest pregnancy rates, and, recently, the Parliament approved a referendum for redefining the term “marriage” in the constitution — which was initiated by a religious ultra-conservatory NGO.

Given these facts, it’s perhaps not such a big surprise that many young women fall for the offer made by the video-chat advertisements. They sell their business in the purest corporate language, telling the girls that they will mostly have to talk to the customers, they will have career opportunities, such as learning skills and English. I’m sure most of the women who video-chat have it better off doing this than any other job that was available for them, but I also agree with Irina Ilisei, quoted in the article: "Do we talk about women who are forced to do this? Are they women who choose it? Or perhaps they do it because they are psychologically manipulated, or they have a lack of economic stability. Probably, it's a combination of all these factors."

From what I can gather so far, the I-know-someone-who-does-video-chat will become the new I-know-someone-whose-parents-are-working-abroad for Romanian people.