In a recent report titled Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Political Participation, the US NGO National Democratic Institute (NDI) made calls for stepping up efforts in ensuring a meaningful participation of Kosovo women in politics. The report recognizes the progress in Kosovo but warns about three issues which require more effort.
First, there is a need for an increased party capacity to retain women as political parties are unable to attract women as party member and lack leadership development programmes. Second, the NDI calls for an increased space for women as, according to the report, party decision-making structures at the national and branch levels are inaccessible to most women. Furthermore, parties lack the will and ability to make space for competent and talented women. Third, greater political will is needed to create meaningful participation of women. “For example, all political party leaders acknowledge the benefit of a gender quota but follow the quota in letter rather than in spirit. Parties often do not take women seriously as members, leaders, or candidates. Too often, parties recruit women simply to fulfill the minimum legal quota requirement,” the report states.
The report recommends strengthening of the legal framework for protecting women’s political participation by reviewing the electoral law and the gender equality law and their implementation to ensure greater and more effective women’s political participation. NDI also urges support for the gender quota as a mechanism for equal representation and give public recognition to the benefits it has provided by establishing women in political office and changing attitudes towards women. Parties, the report says, should embrace the spirit of the gender quota by developing strategies to recruit and retain women as party members, preparing and supporting them to run as successful candidates, and supporting women’s leadership in parties and in government. Civil society organizations should monitor the implementation of gender quotas, as well as its effects. Political parties should undertake research on women’s voting patterns in order to understand women’s preferences, priority issues, attitudes and trends. Research should also focus on women candidates – why they run and obstacles they face – civil society’s role in supporting women, and public perceptions of women in politics. Such research will enable parties to develop more effective electoral strategies. The NDI further calls on political parties to allocate equal resources to women candidates while civil society and the media are urged to educate voters about advantages of women’s participation in politics.
