Kosovo - Country Gender Assessment

Fostering gender equality and enabling women’s economic participation is critical for Kosovo’s development trajectory. Actively engaging, nurturing, and optimizing the diverse talents and capabilities of the population, especially of inactive segments is paramount to sustained progress in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. In the last decades, Kosovo has seen some progress in gender equality, including reduced gender gaps in education, increased female life expectancy, and a slight uptick in political participation. However, disparities persist in various areas, including the labor market, entrepreneurship, earnings, occupational segregation, unpaid labor, and violence against women. This Country Gender Assessment provides empirical evidence and analyzes gender equality in Kosovo. Methodologically, the report adopts the Gender Assessment framework proposed by the World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development (WDR 2012). Through this lens, the report scrutinizes recent progress and lingering challenges across three critical dimensions: Endowments, Economic opportunities, and Voice and Agency. Extensive research was conducted drawing from various data sources to gauge indicators such as health, education, labor market dynamics, and gender-based violence, among others. The structure of the report is as follows. Section 2 delves into the legal and institutional framework. Section 3 assesses gender equality from the perspective of human endowments. Section 4 discusses progress and challenges in economic opportunities. Section 5 focuses on issues related to voice and agency.