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Life in Kosovo Debates International Human Rights Day

10 12 2009  Life in Kosovo discussed International Human Rights Day, with a special focus on the rights of women in Kosovo.

The main questions included: What is the rate of employment for women in Kosovo? In which professional fields are women discriminated against? How much are women valued in business? What is believed to be the model of a respected woman in Kosovo?

To discuss these issues, host Jeta Xharra was joined in the studio by:

Zake Prelvukaj, artist
Jakup Krasniqi, speaker of the Parliament of Kosovo
Linda Shala, businesswoman and winner of FIDES award for philanthropy
Luljeta Vuniqi, from the Centre for Gender Studies
Nita Luci, anthropologist and representative of the Allter Habitus Institute  
 
Xharra opened the show with a quote from the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navy Pillay: “Women work two-thirds of the total working hours, and feed around half of the entire world’s population, while are paid only ten percent of the total spending in the world.”

Xharra then began the debate by addressing the only male participant on the panel, congratulating Jakup Krasniqi for his principled stand against the discrimination of women.

When asked if he, as the chairman of Kosovo’s Assembly, is satisfied with the level of female representation in the Assembly, Krasniqi said that “based on UN data on the discrimination of women, we can see that there are still places…where appropriate representation of women in society is blocked through discrimination. We cannot be satisfied with the current position of women in Kosovo’s society.

However, because Kosovo is a newly-formed society still in its early development, we haven’t yet reached the stage necessary to promote those rights.

We still have huge influence from our past, when collective discrimination against women was widespread. That said, as a new democratic state, we have ratified all the relevant conventions on women’s and children’s rights, and included them in our constitution.

As for legal representation, more than 30 percent of the deputies in our Assembly are women.”

Luljeta Vuniqi, from the Centre for Gender Studies, expressed her view that there is still a lack of political and civil will to run awareness campaigns about discrimination against women, despite the fact that many female-focused NGOs work in the field.

The Centre for Gender Studies keeps data on gender discrimination in Kosovo, which reveal that women are some of the poorest categories in Kosovo’s society, tending to be unemployed with less opportunities
for education, and less chance of finding employment.

Further, she claimed, 5% of women above 45-years-old who live in rural areas are illiterate. Vuniqi added that women have much lower financial power, since only 8% hold property in their names, with 98% of Kosovo’s property registered by men.

Linda Shala claimed that the non-emancipation of women in society is a political, social and economic issue outside of their control. Furthermore, she claimed, in order to effect change the perception of a child’s gender by family members must first become non-discriminatory.

Such an attitude must then be continued in schools, society at large, and in the political sphere, she said.

Shala also mentioned the male-dominance of inheritance as a major issue. Significantly, she said, it prevents women from opening businesses, as they must take out a mortgage first, and no bank would provide one without a guarantee signed under the relevant person’s name.

At present, women must ask their husbands, brothers or fathers to transfer houses or land to their name. Shala suggest that, in order to rectify this problem, wealth must be divided equally between genders in order to eliminate discrimination and effect a change in people’s beliefs.

Zake Prelvukaj expressed her agreement with both Vuniqi’s and Shala’s statements on the conditions and opportunities for women, and a desire to see the end to discrimination. However, she added that she has much hope for future generations, and is proud to hear that her generation and younger ones tend
to treat female and male child more equally.

Furthermore, she added that her family has traditionally divided wealth equally between female and male children, a trait shared by only around 1% of Kosovo’s population. However, she noted, this is not unique to Kosovo, as Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Greece have had similar problems.

Following Prelvukaj’s comments, Nita Luci added that there is a range of perspectives on issues related to gender, which vary between families, regions and traditions.

Speaking as an anthropologist, she claimed to believe this to be a “blood-related issue”, connected to perceptions of what it is to be an Albanian, and its relevance for family heritage.

Adding to this point, Vuniqi pointed out that it would not be easy for men to give up their exclusive claims on family wealth in order to share equally with female relatives.

Relating to this division of family wealth between female and male children, Krasniqi was asked if he plans to divide his inheritance equally between his daughters and sons.

He replied that, from his perspective, even traditional attitudes had not excluded female offspring completely, as it allowed them to receive at least some inheritance. Also, he stated that he will try to divide his wealth evenly between his three daughters and one son.

Shala claimed that the large difference in educational opportunities between males and females has been a major cause of the gender divisions in society.

She was then asked what she thinks about the fact that around half of the University of Prishtina’s students are female, even though very few go on to apply for jobs.

Shala replied that the high level of female university admissions reflects women’s interest in achieving prosperity; however, the small number of female job applicants shows the widespread belief that finding a job through advertisements is almost impossible.

In other words, she said, females are discouraged from applying. Shala also mentioned her belief that job applicants are discriminated against on age grounds by the common
requirement that applicants must be below, for example, 35-years-old.

This, she continued, discriminates against those women who marry and have children after university and then decide to enter the job market. Krasniqi responded to this claim by saying that the situation is not always so bleak for female applicants, since many and various government employees are female.

As part of the show, a short report by Jeta Abazi was broadcast, profiling activities on the International Day of Human Rights focusing on violence towards women. In addition, parts of a lecture by the Alltert Habitus Institute held in the University of Prishtina’s Faculty of Philosophy was shown.

An interview with Haki Abazi, the Balkan representative of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund who attended the ten-day United Nations Climate Change Conference, was also broadcast as part of Life in Kosovo, which ended with the satirical sketch Lamjet.

Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.