Ulrike Lunacek Visits UBT, Says More Women Should Be in Kosovo Government
10/11/2015There should be more women in the Kosovo Government, and men should get used to their presence in the government and the leadership positions. This is what Ulrike Lunacek, Vice-President of the European Parliament and the European Parliament’s Rapporteur for Kosovo, said today while speaking at a conference “Gender Aspects and Economy,” organized by the UBT.
Opening the conference, which brought together representatives of the Office of the Kosovo President, the Kosovo Government, and a number local and international institutions, UBT Rector Prof. Dr. Edmond Hajrizi welcomed Lunacek for her participation and the visit to the UBT to get first-hand information on the development and work of this high education institution.
Speaking on the topic treated by the conference, Rector Hajrizi said the gender aspect should be viewed as a potential to generate competence and innovation, adding that gender equality in economy contributed to the improvement of the relationship between men and women. Dr. Hajrizi noted that there was huge potential in this respect, especially in education, illustrating it with the case of the UBT, where 50% of the academic staff are women. He added that the UBT would do more to support women’s entrepreneurship.
The UBT, Hajrizi noted, is one of the largest schools in the country and the region focused on making women part of digitalization era.
Mrs. Ulrike Lunacek, Vice-President of the European Parliament and the Parliament’s Rapporteur for Kosovo made a comprehensive presentation at the conference.
“I appreciate the fact that this conference is taking place here. It is focused on the role of men and women in economy and the perspectives of the society, because economy is one the best example to show how a society functions, and if we do not have men and women sharing the duties together in the private and public life, including economy, the societies are unbalanced,” Lunacek said.
She noted that it was very important that the gender issues were also a focus of economy. “How many women do we see in the leadership positions in economy and industry? There is still that unwritten rule that it is the men those who run the businesses, but this has to end one day and we have to make sure that women participate equally in the public life. No man or woman is born with everything forewritten about their life.”
“Of course, we learn ourselves; we learn from the others, it helps us if our parents are well off financially, and if there are no wars and if there is a good government. Everything helps in improving the life of women and men. In essence, everything depends on what we want to do and what education we get,” she added.
Education is one of the fundamentals of a society, she noted. “You cannot go anywhere without education. Education plays a key role in the life of the humans, among the women in particular. It is important if women get good education because many countries of the world have good laws, Kosovo has good laws, too, when it comes to the participation of women, including on the property and inheritance right. These laws exist but what if women are not aware of their rights, what if they are not educated and are not aware of their rights”, she said, adding that education was necessary to everyone to be able to know their rights, to know how to gain those rights, to know if we are being discriminated against or not, she noted.
Speaking of economy, Lunacek said, everyone had to learn why the societies function the way they are functioning. This has to do with the share of the social and gender roles. Girls do not say often I like this or that. There are many girls who may say this but quite often they see what the others are saying, what they have to do for someone else by putting their life at the second level. We need more balance so that it is not the boys those who are always on the focus. Traditionally, in this not the case only in Kosovo, it is the men those who work while the women takes care of children at home. Fortunately, the things have started to change.
Mrs. Lunacek emphasized that women need to have economic independence so that together with men they can advance the society. She said quotas were necessary at the universities, in economy, the government. “Women are also educated and are capable of doing a job successfully. Discrimination can be no longer acceptable, and it can be said it is punishable as well. Women and men need to be equal under the law. Why should women not be ministers? We need more women in the Kosovo Government. Men need to get used to having women close to them,” Lunacek said.
Her advice to the women was to become rich, to learn, and to gain. “As women and female, you need meet your goals because no one has the right to deny you this,” Lunacek concluded.