Blerina Xhaqku, a-28 year-old from Kamenica, mother of two, is one of many women who want to own her own her business. Her husband, Fatmir, has his own business. He is a landscape construction worker. She is not able to own a business like her husband since, according to her,her family did not share the inheritance proportionally between her and her brothers. Thus, it has been impossible for her to make her wish come true.
“I always wanted to have my business, be an entrepreneur and independent woman. But my family did not give me my share of inheritance. Thus I was unable to get a loan and open my business without having a property as a guarantee (collateral). Because of this, I had no more will and now I take care of two children,” Xhaqku said.
The results of the Labor Force Survey in Kosovo, conducted in 2016, shows that there are huge gender differences in the labor market. Almost one in five (19.6%) of women who are working age are currently working, compared to 62.4% of men who are working age. Among people of the Labor Force, unemployment is higher for women (34.3%) compared to men (26.9%).
Syzane Aliu, director of the company “Magic Ice,” placed on the Prishtinë-Ferizaj highway, says that recently the European Commission, USAID and the Ministry of Agriculture have helped her business keep going.
“Magic Ice” started working in 2004, processing milk and producing 30 kinds of ice-cream. In 2007, they started producing milk products (yogurt, white cheese, ricotta, etc), which were mainly sold within Kosovo`s market.
She invested her own capital in her business, even though often, as she says, entrepreneurship is considered “men`s territory.” But Aliu thinks this idea will gradually change in the future.
She feels sorry that when a baby is born, the first question in our society asks is: is it a boy or a girl?
“So, girls are seen as weak since the day they get to breathe. But each of us should start with ourselves, with the motto ‘gender equality among brothers and sisters’ in front of our children.”
Only by improving ourselves we can push other women to get engaged more in businesses,” Syzana Aliu says.
Diamante Binaku, a trainer at the Center for Trainings and Gender Studies in Prishtina, says that women in Kosovo find it difficult starting a business since most of them have no money or the needed support to do it.
“There are several reasons, but the main one is the lack of property registered in their name to use as collateral for getting a loan to open a business. Also, women lack money and lack financial support from banks or other financial institutions. As long as banks or other financial institutions in Kosovo won’t give loans in the needed sum to open a business without having real estate as a guarantee, women will not be able to open their own businesses,” Binaku said.
In a post on the web page of Women`s Network in Prishtina, it states that women have no access to assets, including her the property, which is managed by men in their family. Also, limited access to employment, property and family`s finances, puts women in an insecure situation.
Besarta Breznica
