World Bank: Kosovo needs more reforms for women to contribute fully

The nearest school told us that they can't organise pre-school care because they didn't have a separate budget, because it was a small number of children families wanted to enroll in school,” says Marigona. At times, he prays to a relative and a neighbor to care for the child until he comes home late in the afternoon.

The challenge is also the lack of public transportation for the one hour journey to Pristina and then another hour for return to its village. Along with some residents from her village, she makes her way to Pristina and returns to form organised with one nation. Private transportation is rare and more expensive.

Marigona belongs to the minority of women employed in Kosovo. According to data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency, only about 20 percent of Kosovo's women participate in the workforce, which is one of the lowest rates in the world.

“We've had workers who for the first time left their village and boarded buses when they started working for us”, says Snow White Mazreku, owner of a successful candy oven in the small town of Malisheva, in central Kosovo, which employs about ten women from the area.

It attributes women's unemployment to lack of financial support for entrepreneurship, lack of information about available opportunities, lack of education and community traditions in rural Kosovo areas, which force many women to stay at home to care for children and the elderly and to cook food for the wider family.

In a recent World Bank study, Women, Business and Law 2023, which is structured around the life cycle of women working 190 economies, Kosovo received 91.9 out of 100 points -- a score higher than the regional average observed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (84.4). The result of Kosovo is perfect when it comes to restrictions on freedom of movement, laws affecting women's decisions to work, laws affecting women's wages, marriage restrictions, women's restrictions on opening and running a business, and gender differences on property and heritage. However, when it comes to laws affecting the work of women after childbirth, and laws affecting the measure of women's pension, Kosovo may consider reforms to improve legal equality for women.

Kosovo plays well in the relevant legislation on women's employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, but there is still a gap between the general legal and regulatory framework, and its impact on creating economic opportunities for women”, says World Bank Manager Massimiliano Paolucci. “On the other hand, without women's contribution to economic growth, it will be impossible to create a more prosperous Kosovo”, he added, explaining this developmental challenge for Kosovo.

The ability to look for work also depends on having an environment that allows for sharing care responsibilities that weigh heavily on women. Traditional social rates in Kosovo assign family responsibilities almost exclusively to women, while high-quality and affordable access to care for children and the elderly, especially outside the capital and rural areas, is limited.

Despite improvements among the newest groups, women in Kosovo still present lower levels of education than men. About 50% of working age women have lower middle education or lower. It's a low rate of employment among people with lower education, 30% in men and 5% in women. Women are also more likely to have a lack of work experience than men: 70% of women of the 25-29 age group are not in employment, education or training.

To address these challenges, countries usually use a mixture of policies, incentives, and programs that directly target women. Further dialogue on policies is required in Kosovo to determine which policies are the best engine for this change.

Child and elderly care services should be provided to a broader extent. Women's education should be improved to increase their chances of working and the quality of their employment. The state can intervene with support policies immediately after or even before graduation to open up opportunities to gain experience. Health and social efficiency may be reformed to help reduce women's vulnerability in case of illness or job loss. It can also increase availability and ease access to finance and other incentives for women entrepreneurs. /World Bank