Give them voice, don’t speak for them Women’s right on decision-making: Study case of minority women in Kosovo

Abstract

Researchers, organization, and activists are advocating increasingly for the political representation of women and minority groups. However, few are considering the impact of laws and policies on minority women, or generally groups that identity traits intersect with each other. In this thesis, I examine the impact of the legal framework, the quota system, and the strategies of the Kosovar Government in integrating minority women, more precisely Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women in the political decision-making. Generally, minority women face considerable barriers to political decision-making. In many countries, also in Kosovo majority women, and minority men are successful in getting the parliament seats, but not minority women. Therefore, this paper describes the struggles of minority women in getting to those seats, by illustrating with the example of Kosovo. Additionally, I will discuss about the reasons of having minority women in the parliament, and why their voice would raise different issues than those of minority men.