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Научни трудове на Съюза на учените в България-Пловдив. Серия В. Техника и технологии, естествен ии хуманитарни науки, том XVI., Съюз на учените сесия "Международна конференция на младите учени" 13-15 юни 2013. Scientific research of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria-Plovdiv, series C. Natural Sciences and Humanities, Vol. XVI, ISSN 1311-9192, Union of Scientists, International Conference of Young Scientists, 13 - 15 June 2013, Plovdiv.
GENDER POLITICS AND DISCOURSES IN KOSOVO Sadete Tërnava-Osmani
University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philology, Mother Theresa st. nn10 000
Prishtina / Kosovo
e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
This paper aims at analysing current gender politics in Kosovo, namely position of women at the local level in Eastern Kosovo. Despite positive achievements and a lot of efforts invested by different organizations, especially international organizations, gender equality issues, namely the presentation of women in local decision-making processes and actual implementation of the law on gender equality remain unsatisfactory.
However, due to the application of electoral quotas, there is a de facto gender-balanced representation within the main legislative body of the local government - the municipal assembly, which does not in the executive.
Based on that, this paper aims at describing/analysing the conditions, environment, political will and opinions of women in eleven informal groups in eleven respective regional municipalities which during 2009-2010 were established in order to increase the number of women in local decision-making structures.
Key words: gender, women, politics, groups, local level.
Introduction
In a thirteen year period of time, Kosovo has managed to create a relatively reformed framework for promoting gender equality in the country, by determining to bring the gender equality as one of the core concepts of equality, non-discrimination and affirmative actions of a new society in general. This is especially related to gender-equality actions, activities and legal framework on the central level, which has enabled women to raise their profile and subsequently their participation at that level. In fact, it helped a lot the issue at local level as well, as the legal framework underpinned authorities to start taking action on that direction, which unfortunately remained more a façade driven politics. This is due to the fact that to date women at the local level continue to lag behind men in every aspect, in particular in executive life.
In December 2012, the Assembly of Kosovo adopted a resolution on women's empowerment. The resolution encourages central and local institutions, civil society and private sector to increase their efforts in implementing the constitution, the Law on Gender Equality (LGE) and other relevant legislation as well as the Kosovo Program on Gender Equality (KPGE) in order to enforce the Prishtina Principles recommended and agreed upon during the International Women's Summit organized by President of the state. All documents deriving from central level commit to improve
rights of women in all spheres, including legacy rights, in particular those related to inheritance practices.
Theory
The Kosovo Law on Gender Equality (LGE 2004/2) paragraph 3.1., highlights that equal participation in decision-making means that 40 per cent of both genders participate equally in all spheres of life. On the other hand, the current Electoral Law which foresees 'equality' with 30 per cent representation in municipal assemblies and parliament is not harmonized with the LGE. Consequently, to date deliberations on whether 40 or 30 per cent should prevail, continue to be part of debates, in particular on the eve of elections.
Despite the fact that Kosovo is not yet a member of the UN or the Council of Europe, the national legislature and policies include major gender equality commitments, directly from the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW. This has a consequence as by not being members of these organisms, Kosovo is not in a position to ratify the relevant international human rights instruments. The main reporting domestic body is the Agency for Gender Equality within the Office of Prime Minister which in cooperation with other relevant institutions (UN, OSCE etc) in 2008 provided a report on the implementation of CEDAW but only recently the report was submitted to the CEDAW committee. The Agency reports to Kosovo Parliament as well.
Legal and policies framework
The existing Law on Gender Equality (LGE) is currently being redrafted and it is expected to include clearer roles and responsibilities for gender mechanisms, as well as bigger consideration to gender responsive budgeting and gender mainstreaming. In addition, Kosovo has other numerous laws, policies and secondary legislation: the Law on Inheritance (2004/26), Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence (03/L-182), Law on Labour (03/L-212); Law on Reproductive Health (02/L-76), Law on Anti-Discrimination (2004/3), Health Law (2004/4 and 04/L-125), Law on Small and Medium Enterprises (02/L-5 and 03/L-031), Law on Free Legal Aid (04/L-017), Law on Social and Family Services (02/L-17), Law on Incitement and breast feeding (02/L81), and the Law on termination of pregnancy (03/L-110). Moreover, an Administrative Instruction 2005/8 for the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality brings administrative guidance for the creation of Human Rights Units (HRU) Kosovo wide and job descriptions for officers for gender equality. Situation is not the same related to local level legislation framework, as throughout Kosovo only 9 municipalities have managed to adopt Municipal Regulations on Gender Equality. The regulations are the initiative of the women's caucuses, with the support of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (OMiK) on the regional level. Gjilan/Gnjilane Regional Center has supported women's caucuses on the regional level since 2009 via a project cycle to provide support to women's caucuses first in that region, and from 2012 Kosovo wide.
In the course of the monitoring activities, it has been noted and continuously reported that the implementation of the law on gender equality at the local level remains unsatisfactory. In the local decision making process women are still acutely under-represented. They are still absent from the main legislative committees. With exception of one municipality where a female leads the committee, nearly all other policy and finance committees in the region have no female members. In light of this fact, only few female hold positions of directors; only one until few months ago used to be the deputy mayor and one is the municipal assembly chairperson. Regrettably, but no woman in the region holds the post of mayor. However, due to the application of electoral quotas, there is gender representation within the main legislative body of the local government - the municipal
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assembly, where every third elected member is a woman. Despite that, observations and reports tell that female municipal assembly members are generally less vocal than male counterparts during the municipal assembly sessions and committee meetings. Analysis general output would blame the local cultural background and the traditional division between male and female roles in the society as main reasons for the situation. Being part of the project on women's caucuses' empowerment, it is observed that female municipal assembly members have limited influence as a result of a stereotype of the male-dominant political culture.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, (Human Development Report on Kosovo, 2012), women's participation in the labour market is low. Disaggregation of the data by sex reveals that women in Kosovo are more likely to be unemployed: the level among women is 57 per cent - 16 percentage points higher than the figure recorded for men. The report says that only 11 per cent of working age women are employed, compared with 68 per cent of men, in part because of lower educational opportunities and achievement. This low activity rate for women, is partly related to a disproportionate share of household responsibilities or because they are discouraged by the absence of opportunities for paid employment outside the home.
Data fluctuates from central level to local level even when it comes to issues of practical concern which in addition hinder women's position. Local level, in particular rural areas lack childcare facilities which directly influence women activities and employment. The insufficient general childcare makes it difficult for women in particular for those in traditional families where women have to take care of elderly as well. Reconciling care, work and outside activities brings extra burdens on shoulders of women.
Sometimes positive legal acts as the 2011 approved law on labour which has extended the right to maternity leave is concerning, as the new law has actually acted against women's interest and position in the workplace. Women tell their own practices that if they are young and about to have babies they will not be employed and even when yes, short-term contracts (one to two months) are being issued. On the other hand, if women express interest to engage in private business or get loans, they will withdraw due to lack of private property. In fact, women in Kosovo, almost 99.9 per cent have micro enterprises and according to the 2012 United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report on Kosovo, it is surprising that women entrepreneurs tend to own smaller businesses and operate with lower levels of overall capitalization than do men as women entrepreneurs experience more intense barriers to finance, and across Kosovo an estimated 92 per cent of the collateral assets needed to start businesses are registered to men. This happens despite inheritance rights guaranteed by Kosovo laws. This situation is specifically true on the local level where women either are not informed and aware of inheritance equal rights or hesitate to speak due to surrounding mentality that men and boys are 'heirs' of the family.
Education is given an important role and room for discussion and barriers to schooling of female along with advantages to boys are diminishing.
According to the report of the Kosovo Statistical Agency Women and Men in Kosovo 2009, in terms of education, young men have a slight advantage towards young women. More Kosovar young men attend university than young women. In line of this, female members of rural, poor and minority communities are the worst affected.
In addition to a quite rich legal framework, Kosovo has a good structure of gender policies too. There are two main documents: The 2003 - 2007 Kosovo Action Plan for the Achievement of Gender Equality, and the 2008 to 2013 Kosovo Program for Gender Equality (KPGE). Both documents are quite broad as they encompass almost all gender mainstreaming (employment, access to quality education, health, economic empowerment, awareness raising on gender equality, access to qualitative social service for women at risk, women in media and culture 394
and equal participation in decision-making), but its implementation lags behind. It is not known whether a final assessment report will be launched in order to see the implementation rate and the understanding both male and female obtained from it. From our own assessments, neither female nor male were sufficiently familiar with the context of those policies. Gender equality is instantly meant to be women's issues and the overall impression and impact of discussions and debates bring women to defenders' position whereas men to attackers even when very worrying topics, such as issue of domestic violence are being discussed. In this vein, the Kosovo Programme against Domestic Violence and Action Plan which foresees implementation of the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence, remain only partially implemented (see OSCE Report, Implementation Measures for Legislation Impacting Human Rights in Kosovo, 2012). Kosovo has even appointed a Coordinator for Domestic Violence (MoJ), responsible for monitoring, evaluation and reporting, and in addition is in the process of drafting its National Action Plan (NAP) on UNSCR 1325.
Institutional Framework
Kosovo has a number of institutions in charge of implementation of legal framework. The main institution is the Agency for Gender Equality (AGE) within the Office of the Prime Minister which is supposed to encourage, develop, advise, monitor, implement and report on gender equality-related laws and policies in Kosovo as outlined in the Law on Gender Equality and the Programme for Gender Equality.
Committee on Human Rights, Gender Equality, Missing Persons and Petitions is one of the permanent legislative committees of the Assembly of Kosovo in charge of formulating, monitoring and implementation of those laws. The Committee has recently carried out its first monitoring exercise.
Ministerial gender affairs officers, municipal human rights units (MHRUs) and municipal officers for gender equality (MOGEs) are mechanisms responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights at both levels. Namely municipal human rights units (MHRUs) and municipal officers for gender equality (MOGEs) are in charge of drafting, promoting and reporting on gender equality municipal programs (OSCE Report, Implementation Measures for Legislation Impacting Human Rights in Kosovo, 2012).
AGE oversees the work of Gender Affairs Officers in each ministry and MOGEs and HRU are supervised by respective municipal administration directors and/or mayors. Due to non-seriousness and proper terms of references, MOGEs have been placed within MHRUs, and often exercise two to three roles, which consequently brings gender and human rights issues at stake. MOGEs often complain over lack of support of their superiors whereas the latter blame MOGEs for their inactivity. It is to be noted that international organisms (OSCE, UN Women, NDI, LOGOS, USAID, KWN etc) remain the main devoted organisms of this field.
The Women's Cross-party Caucus Assembly of Kosovo - parliamentary women is one of the most active central bodies fighting pro gender equality politics. Established in 2005 it involves 42 women parliamentarians of different political parties in the Assembly of Kosovo. Main donors to the group are: OSCE, National Democratic Institute-NDI, UNDP, UN Women, Kvinna till Kvinna, the Norwegian Embassy, Women Asia and USAID.
Women's caucuses and gender municipal acts at local level
In total in Kosovo there are 34 women's caucuses at local level, established mainly with initiative of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. The first woman's caucus at local level was established on 6 March 2009 in Gjilan/Gnjilane (a city in south-eastern part of Kosovo). The Partes/Partesh group was established on 12 July 2011 with municipality's own initiative. OSCE Governance Team and the Regional Centre Gjilan/Gnjilane gender focal point participated at that event and provided advice and ideas for possible activities. The Ranilug/Ranilug group was established on 10 October 2012 with assistance of USAID DEMI. Seeing the process of creation of caucuses as a success toward inclusion of women in political and public life, the project was replicated throughout Kosovo. In 2013 women caucuses achieved to draft, finalize and approve municipal gender regulations in nine municipalities of Gjilan/Gnjilane region. In vein of this, support to women's caucuses on the local level will be enhanced as OSCE has an added value in working on the local level, due to its large field presence and good institutional memory. As author of this research and as manager of the project on women's caucuses at Gjilan/Gnjilane regional centre, a plan to assess needs of women's caucuses at the local level will be carried out in 2013. The assessment should provide recommendations for further work, tailor-made to each of the caucuses.
Issues and challenges of women at local level
The following main obstacles on the path to gender equality facing Kosovo are:
Challenges in the implementation_of the laws/regulations related to fostering equality between women and men
Women's participation in the decision making process remains low throughout Kosovo thus challenging a comprehensive gender mainstreaming of policies
The 2009 local elections showed that all the municipalities in Gjilan/Gnjilane region reached the minimum quota set for female municipal assembly members, but according to outcomes from monitoring and reports very few female candidates would have made their way to the municipal assemblies without the quota system in place
Even if represented, women are consistently marginalized in local decision making processes because of a male dominant political culture
Based on confidential conversation with few members of caucuses they state that men show lack of political willingness to engage experienced women in decision making processes.
The lack of political willingness from political leaders and mayors to encourage and include women in municipal decision-making activities, and in line of this, lack of support for specific gender driven activities could be set as one of the major factors influencing the non-achievement of gender equality
Another external factor which influences achievements of the group is the financial conditions of municipalities.
A higher impact might be observed in the upcoming fall 2013 election
In conclusion, members of 11 caucuses of Gjilan/Gnjilane region hesitate to take duties ahead. Most of the caucuses, with the exception of Gjilan/Gnjilane, Ferizaj/Urosevac, Kamenice/ Kamenica and Kaganik/Kacanik were not able to advance proposals to change the municipal agenda or contribute information. Even when they tried to be vocative, unintended results were observed. The overall impact in empowering gender equality is different for women and men and it is difficult to bring a stabile conclusion on a quite fragile scene where both genders have not yet understood that path to equality needs engagements of both sides.
References
Sazana Capriqi, Shkrimi Femëror, WUS Austria and UP, (2008) Report on Human development in Kosovo, UNDP (2012) Aide-Mémoire on Gender Mainstreaming Projects Filling the GAPS Gender in the Analysis, Policy and Strategy Development of the Conflict Prevention Centre OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre and
Gender Section of the Office of the Secretary General, August 2006 MENDING INEQUALITIES, Printed by Ueberreuter Print GmbH, Vienna, Austria. © OSCE, 2011
