The Kosovo ambassador to the United States of America (USA), Vlora Çitaku, was attacked with boiled eggs at the University of Denver last year. This was not something unusual for the Kosovar audience. However, Çitaku`s comment that it was a “sexist” attack was interesting.
“Sexist messages were written on the boiled eggs that were thrown at me,” Çitaku wrote on her Facebook page, adding “I will not publish them since they were very explicit.”
This is not the only attack an official of civil society has faced.
Violeta Kurti Islami, founder of Women Media Center (WMC), says that girls and women are those whose voice is not heard. They are affected and not properly presented in media even though in almost each society their contribution is unarguable, she says.
“The most recent case was in the TV program “Komiteti” (in Dukagjini TV) where a journalist makes “men`s chambers” evaluations in front of the audience. In another situation, a well-known journalist (a role model for courageous journalism until now), said she based her decision to join a political party because she had her husband`s support,” Islami said.
She stated that messages like these from eminent people only deepen the sexist tendency in the media and open the way to further discrimination against women, in addition to the sexist discourse of interviewing.
“So, let us not be disappointed when young women in politics are asked by the media if they have their husbands` support for participation in public functions,” she ended.
Rreze Abdullahu, a civil society activist, says that insulting statements against women in social positions have become a “tradition.” According to her, these happened in the Kosovo Assembly as well, and the former president Atifete Jahjaga could not escape similar situations either.
“Atifete Jahjaga was judged for the job she did just because she was a woman. She faced sexist graffiti against her in the streets of Prishtina many times. Nothing was done regarding this act, apart from considering it politic hooliganism and severely condemning it,” Abdullahu says.
The usage of insulting words concerns her, e.g. “transparent cow,” “Denmark cow…” The worst is that these insults come from officials or people who are known to the public.
In an analysis done by the Agency for Gender Equality (AGE), which related some articles on the presentation of women in print media, it is said that oftentimes the media itself express sexism, using inadequate language toward women during the description of events.
“They often have an impact in establishing a mentality where women are presented not only as ignorant, but they also make women look like they have no idea what they are doing,” is written in this analysis, which includes a number of writings as an illustration of the existence of sexism in media. E.g. the articles “Inxhet në kuvend” (aunts in the Assembly), “Sërish me djalë” (again a boy), “Më pak femra të trafikuara në Kosovë (Fewer women trafficked in Kosovo), etc…
Florina Imeri, a journalism student at the University for Business and Technology (UBT) in Prishtina, thinks that sexism is shown every day in debates, in family and in society as well.
“We are often told, ‘Do not talk, you don`t know, you are a woman.’ Our mentality is still ancient, in which the female sex should remain under the ‘shade’ of men. I always react with objections referring to the fact that our sex is superior to men,” she ended.
From a 2014 research by the German Foundation “Konrad Adenauer-Stifung,” results show that the role of the women in society is presented in three variants: traditional roles such as mother-spouse, physical appearance, and as sexist objects.
On the other side, from a research conducted by the Independent Media Commission (IMC) in 2013, during a two-day monitoring of three televisions, Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), Kohavision (KTV), and Radio and Television 21 (RTV21), women were shown on the screen in a very small percentage compared to men.
In RTK women were shown on the screen 5,.21%, in KTV – 7.72%, whereas in RTV21 – only 4.20%.
Artiana Matoshi, a journalist at Klan Kosova TV, says that working in the field one often faces sexist comments, as e.g. “this is not a job for women” or “you are a woman otherwise I would ‘deal’ with you…”
She says that sexist language is used in the family initially, then in school and at work. It gets installed at an early age and follows you always. Oftentimes, this rhetoric is used by girls themselves and this shows that it requires a lot of work for us as a society to give up on sexism once and for all.
“The Kosovar family itself should start changing, in order for their daughters not to face sexism in the future. As far as the media is concerned, the executives should issue regulations in which gender-based insults are punished. Women themselves should not allow such language being used against them and in a case where it is used, they should report it,” Matoshi said.
There are always reactions against the sexism expressed in media, starting from civil society to the citizens, especially on social networks.
The mission of Women Media Center (WMC) is to impact media and public institutions toward women empowerment and increase their voice in decision making to democratic governing in Kosovo.
“When women are the main topic of the news, their portrayal results in double standards. When women are presented in the media, they are objectified, and disdained, which is the first criterion that follows the presenting of women in the media,” said Violeta Kurti, the founder of WMC.
According to her, the media should initially educate and empower themselves by making gender and program policies.
“Their impact will be even better women when this change starts inside them (the media). Then I believe that the message of the news by these media houses will be more objective and more inclusive, whereas women empowerment will happen naturally,” Islami says.
On the official website of the Agency for Gender Equality in Prishtina, regarding women in media it is written:
“Those who use media in a professional way are the creators of the society. They can make a society vulgar. They can make it more violent. Or, they can take society to a higher level.”
Njomza Berisha
