Report published on gender quotas on corporate boards in Kosovo

To come women to decision making are two ways: representation of women in greater measure in politics and representation of women on boards, whether institutional ones, corporations or other boards.

So said on the case of publishing the report “gender quotas on corporate boards in Kosovo”, where special emphasis was placed on mechanisms for increasing representation of women in decision making.

The head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Natalia Apostolova, said the EU Office supports easing the gap of inequality between women and men in the field of entrepreneurship.

As women make up more than 50 percent of Kosovo's population, Apostolova said only 10 percent of businesses are owned by women, so according to her, women should take their share of power.

She once said that all mechanisms that can ease the gap between men and women should be given importance in any society.

The EU-funded Analysis of Kosovo's agenda, which I published in October 2018, clearly shows that quotas have been applied, they have influenced the representation of women in Kosovo. On the contrary, when quotas do not apply, women remain very unrepresented. In public institutions, central and local governments, international teams are not considered at all. Women represent more than 50 percent of Kosovo's population, and it is of crucial importance that they take their share of power, including in the area of economics”, she said.

The executive director of the Kosovar Centre for Gender Studies, Luljeta Demolli, said women's employment in Kosovo institutions remains a concern, except for the Parliament.

Of all the deputy ministers in Kosovo, 80 are men, 4 are women, meaning by no means women's decision-making in our institutions. Two ministers are now and all other positions are men. And that's really disturbing. The only place where the quota has resulted is the Kosovo Parliament, where we have a greater presence of women. We strongly believe that women to come to decision making are only two ways: representation of women in greater measure in politics and representation of women on boards, whether institutional, corporate or civil society and other international organisations. Only this can create a model and see the woman in the society”, she said.

Bakija's life from ERAC revealed how the coalition aims to publish 24 reports, while announcing that today is the 14th consecutive.

It also listed issues with which the project was primarily taken, and it stressed that there is also a lack of law enforcement for language use, reintegration of the community, not majority, domestic violence and others.

For all the cases they have encountered, Bakija said they have addressed them to the relevant institutions, where they have given the recommendations as the ERAC coalition.

“So far we have set up cases that have affected more than 300 thousand people in all of Kosovo. We've offered legal assistance to more than 230 clients. So far we have more than 80 cases solved. The cases, which have so far been identified, have been the lack of access to the health system, lack of freedom of movement, lack of community representation, not majority in municipal offices on communities' issues and returns. We have had cases of dropout of schooling, especially from the children of the non-communal community”, she said.

While Carlos Abaitua from the EU Office in Kosovo spoke about the ECAC project.

“Grant was signed in 2015 and this is the last year of its implementation. It has cost 1 million of 100 thousand euros, out of which 90 percent is funded by the EU and 20 percent by the ECAC. While it is a programme that concerns empowering civil society in all Western Balkan countries”, he said.

Different, project “ERAC” is funded by the EU and refers to the best practices.