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Women's Rights in Kosovo: Cultural and Religious Barriers

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Women's Rights in Kosovo: Cultural and Religious Barriers Women’s Rights in Kosovo: Cultural and Religious Barriers by Ideal Hoxha SOA 3902 A Dissertation submitted in the partial fulfillment for the degree: Masters in Human Rights Policy and Practice School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg School of Business and Social Sciences, Roehampton University Department of Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Tromsø Spring 2015 Declaration form The work I have submitted is my own effort. I certify that all the material in the Dissertation which is not my own work, has been identified and acknowledged. No materials are included for which a degree has been previously conferred upon me. Signed …………… Date …….22.05.2015 2 Abstract Women’s Rights have often been a subject of the debate between universal rights versus cultural relativism. In Kosovo women’s rights have gone through drastic changes. After the NATO intervention in 1999, UN established international bodies to temporary govern the territory of Kosovo. UNMIK’s mission contributed massively in establishing frameworks to support, protect and empower women. In this thesis I am going to analyze this process of imposing universal ideas such as women’s rights in a country that has had a long history of patriarchy. Was UNMIK mission successful in terms of framing these sets of ideas and adopting them to the state legislature? Or did that fail because of cultural and religious barriers? This thesis will focus on three main actors including; the international community, women’s rights activism and religious resistance. 3 Acknowledgments I would take this opportunity in acknowledging people who work in promoting gender equality and women’s rights in Kosovo. Equality it is a very important attribute for the future of Kosovo. Further, I would like to thank the interviewees who managed to take out time from their busy schedules and generously contribute to this research. Most importantly I would like to thank my supervisor Sidsel Saugestad who has showed an outstanding commitment and has been with me in every step of this research. I could have not completed this research work without my friends here in Tromsø and family back in Kosovo. Without their support and constant concern the process of developing this research would not have been as engaging and fruitful as it has been. 4 Table of Content Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Historical Background ....................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Purpose of Research ........................................................................................................ 10 1.3 Research Questions and Hypothesis ................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 2: Theoretical Approach ......................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 3: Methodology ...................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Choice of Method............................................................................................................ 17 3.2 Initial Interest and Background ........................................................................................ 18 3.3 Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 18 3.4 Ethical Consideration ...................................................................................................... 19 3.5 Limitations ...................................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 4: International Community in Kosovo ................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 5: A Passive Government ....................................................................................... 24 5.1 Gender Differences ......................................................................................................... 26 5.2 Political Representation ................................................................................................... 28 5.3 Sexism in the Media ........................................................................................................ 29 CHAPTER 6: Women’s Rights Activism .................................................................................. 31 6.1 Challenging the Stereotypes ............................................................................................ 34 CHAPTER 7: Religion ............................................................................................................. 36 5 7.1 Background on Religion .................................................................................................. 36 7.2 Islam Effecting Women ................................................................................................... 39 7.3 Islamic Education and Ideology....................................................................................... 40 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 45 Recommendations..................................................................................................................... 48 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 50 6 CHAPTER 1: Introduction One of the core issues in Human Rights today is the question of universality of Human Rights and the significant debate on cultural relativism confronting universal human rights. Donnelly (1984) discusses the tensions between universalism and cultural relativism by touching upon terms such as radical universalism and radical cultural relativism in an attempt to find a balance between the two extremes. He states that moral rules, including human rights function within a moral community and that radical universalist must give priority to the demands of a cosmopolitan moral community over lower communities in order to preserve complete universality of fundamental rights (Donnelly 1984:402). On the other side he argues that radical cultural relativism or “moral nationalism” is something “that may be based on reasons such as inability to agree on the structure of a supranational organization or a fear of creating an instrument of universal tyranny” (Donnelly 1984:402). Women are one of the groups that are often a subject of the debate between universal rights and cultural relativism. The understanding of women’s rights may vary from one culture to another, as the role of women is seen differently in different cultures. But often this fear of creating an instrument of universal tyranny as explained by Donnelly is used as an excuse to violate different women’s rights which are protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant conventions such as CEDAW in order to keep the status quo of a society dominated by men. Despite the fact that having conventions assuring gender equality and promoting and protecting women’s rights have had a significant impact regarding the progress on gender equality, in a lot of countries they have struggled to be implemented and one of the reasons is the difficulty to translate these universal ideas into local context. Sally Engle Merry (2006: 41) asks the question of how can universal ideas such as violence against women become meaningful in the local context? She talks about the concept of “framing” which was developed by social movement theorists to analyze what makes an idea persuasive and how these frames that are not themselves ideas but more of a way of presenting an idea can motivate collective action. Merry also identifies “the problem human rights activist confront: if they present human rights as compatible with existing ways of thinking, the ideas will not induce change”(Engle Merry 2006). 7 This thesis is focused on the evolution of women’s rights legislation in Kosovo and their struggle to be implemented in practice because of incompatible social norms. In the research, I will analyze the influence of the international community’s presence in Kosovo in establishing legislation regarding women’s rights and the potential reasons why they have struggled to be implemented. To get a fairly understanding of the situation, I will also be focusing on the role of the government in Kosovo, women’s rights activists, and religion. The government of Kosovo has been passive in efforts to implement all women’s rights ensured by law. Women’s rights NGO’s and activists have been highly influenced and encouraged by the international community and foreign funders in taking a universal approach to empowering women. The religious community on the other side has raised its voice against international influence on women’s rights in attempts to preserve existing gender roles and morals, which they consider to be a part of the culture. The reaction between the above-mentioned groups will present an understanding of the current situation in regards to women, drawing upon which I will suggest
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