The biggest presence of women in politics, hard to cross

Life Aliu, a student at the Faculty of Political Sciences in the third year, dreams of working at the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but she says it is difficult because this profession is dominated by men.

According to her, the domination of the male gender is already seen at the faculty.

I'm finishing my studies in Political Science, and I don't see any big prospects in the future, because men dominate. As a woman, I believe I will be dominated, I already feel dominated in some cases even at college. But I don't have anything to do with it, this is our reality”, says Life, which at the moment works in a beauty salon.

Women today enjoy voting rights, schooling, employment, and many others. But, in the state of Kosovo, the presence of women in decision-making bodies is not at the right level.

In the Kosovo Assembly, 30 per cent of MPs are women. However, of the 30 municipalities in Kosovo, none of them are guided by a woman. Only one minister is guided by a woman.

Luljeta Demolli, executive director at the Centre for Investigations and Gender Studies, told Radio Free Europe that women's representation in the political sphere is not enough, and according to her, the state of Kosovo has made a setback in terms of gender issues.

Kosovo has a reverse, because in previous years we had some women who were more vocal, more visible in the public sphere, in political life. And now we have only 30 percent in Parliament, which is insufficient for gender issues or the advancement of gender equality to be more visible. Given that women are so unemployed, and so not included in public life, this has degraded the entire system, because the involvement of women in public and political life is really totally invisible”, Demolli says.

Also, Demolli stresses that women's trust in politics and political parties in Kosovo is extremely low, and that the day is even falling even more.

The time has come when women's confidence in Kosovo will be no more, that belief that political parties will change, because promises at the time of election campaigns have been overstated. There have been promises of political parties that will be governed by 50, women and men will rule equally, and that is going to degradation to this extent, we haven't thought of”, Demolli adds.

While Arijeta Rexhaj, director of the Centre for Training and Gender Studies, in a proposal for Radio Free Europe said women's forums and different formations should become more active so that the role of women in decision-making will be more active and more present in Kosovo society.

“Women's resources, different formations, coalitions, groupings must become functional, and be strengthened in order to play an active role in boosting women's participation in political life, especially in decision-making positions”, Rexaj said.

According to Rexhaj, the government is what should create equal conditions for both genders.

The government is exactly what should be the guarantor and implementation of creating equal conditions for all. But he is breaking this vow and standard, with only one or two women involved in this government. Unfortunately, even past mandates, however, we have only two women in decision-making positions --”, Rexaj said.

The gender equality law mandates that 40 percent of women be involved in decision-making positions, while 30 percent of Kosovo lawmakers must be female.

The highest position ever held by any woman in Kosovo is by Atifete Jahjaga, who was president of the country from 2011 to 2016.

For student Life Aliu, data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency is far from promising. According to recent data from this agency, over 65 percent of young people in Kosovo are unemployed.