Prishtina, 11.03.2024 – On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Ministry of Economy (ME), in co-organization with the Kosovo Electricity Distribution Company (KEDS), the Transmission System Operator, and Market Operator (KOSTT), and the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), held the event under the motto event “A Kosovo where profession knows no gender”.

The purpose of this event was to empower women in their development and motivation through success stories of women leaders operating in fields covered by the ME, such as energy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), mining, and publicly-owned enterprises.

This was made possible through motivational and inspirational speeches about their career progression and challenges, first by the Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, who delivered a welcoming speech, followed by speakers: Burbuqe Hana, Chief Executive Officer of Telekom of Kosovo; Elida Qelaj, beneficiary of ICT training from the KODE project led by ME, and Fjolla Fazliu, beneficiary of the “Women in Energy” scholarship program, concurrently Advisor to Minister Rizvanolli.

Minister Rizvanolli spoke about the increase in women’s participation in decision-making positions, acknowledging progress made in recent years, mainly in engineering professions where women participation has been lower, however, she emphasized that there is still work to be done to strengthen the voice of women.

At the beginning of her speech, Minister Rizvanolli stated that women do not have a day for equality nor a day for work in order to be represented to performing their work, but every day is a day of women, as much as it is of men. “This is not a day to celebrate as there is much to be done to achieve true equality not only in Kosovo but globally”, she said.

However, despite this, I think it is good from time to time for all of us, in our institutional and professional roles, especially for women who are leaders in their fields in the organizations where they work, regardless of the work we do to reflect on where we have come in terms of gender equality and what we have to do ahead”, added Minister Rizvanolli.

During her speech, Rizvanolli mentioned Kosovo’s achievements, stating that we are a country that can be compared even with the most developed countries, seeing the progress made in women’s representation compared to the last 10 years, adding that the representation of women in the current parliament is 40%, which is best evidenced by the fact that Kosovo has, for the second time, a woman president and a government cabinet represented by one-third women.

Minister Rizvanolli emphasized that while there is still much work to be done to increase the percentage of women in public institutions and enterprises, especially in leadership positions, in the boards of publicly-owned enterprises, 40% of the appointed members are women. This percentage was around 10% in 2017.

She also said that if we look at the fields covered by the ME, which are traditionally male-dominated fields, both globally and in Kosovo, it can be said that now we can be proud, starting from the fact that in the boards of publicly-owned enterprises, since 2021, we have managed to maintain a percentage of at least 40%, compared to 2017 where, according to a study by the Institute for Advanced Studies (GAP) at that time, women’s participation on boards was 10%. All this has been achieved not necessarily by changing laws, but by showing that when the will comes from above, certainly with an extra effort to attract women to apply and with the selection of women on equal terms.

This goes beyond publicly-owned enterprises if we look at the boards of various institutions such as the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO), where historically, of all the boards over the years, there have been only 2 women, and currently out of the 5 members of the ERO board, 2 are women. Such examples are everywhere, even in institutions established by the Assembly where all or over 50% are women, concluded Minister Rizvanolli.

During the event, a panel discussion on “Women in Energy Enterprises” was also held, with panelists including: Emine Gllareva, Electronics Engineer at KEK; Resmije Ahma, Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at KOSTT; Valbona Kadrijaj, Director of Quality, Safety, and Training at KEDS; Rudina Heroi – Puka, Director of the Customer Service, Tariffs, and Regulatory Matters Department at KESCO; Lutfije Dervishi, Member of the Board of ERO; and Besiana Qorraj, Acting Head of the Renewable Energy Projects Administrative Support Division at the Ministry of Energy.

Hundreds of women from various professions, historically dominated by men, attended this event.