2007 U.S Department of State Report on Women in Albania

Albania

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2006
March 6, 2007

Women

Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a serious problem. In a traditionally male-dominated society, social norms and lax police response resulted in underreported abuse, making it difficult to quantify the number of women who were victims of rape, domestic violence, or sexual harassment. According to the Gender Alliance for Development Center's 2002-03 media monitoring project, 56 women and girls throughout the country lost their lives as a result of domestic violence, and 74 others were seriously injured.

The government did not have programs to combat domestic violence or assist victims. The Women to Women organization, a Sweden-based NGO, reported that there were approximately six domestic violence hot lines that operated throughout the country. The hot line that served mainly the northern part of the country received approximately 20 calls per month from women reporting some form of violence. Shtreheza, an NGO that operated two shelters for battered women in Tirana, reported an increase in cases of domestic violence and that both facilities were at maximum occupancy, mainly due to better awareness and access to help.

Many communities, particularly those from the northeastern part of the country, still followed the traditional code--the kanun--under which, according to some interpretations, women are considered to be, and were treated as, chattel. Some interpretations of the kanun dictate that a woman's duty is to serve her husband and to be subordinate to him in all matters.

On December 18, parliament enacted the country's first law against domestic violence. The government developed and introduced the law with the assistance of the Women's Legal Rights Project. The law allows victims of violence to obtain protection orders from the courts in civil proceedings, orders that will then be served to the alleged abuser. If the abuser violates the order, then he can be arrested and prosecuted. The law also requires the government to set up services for victims and to raise public awareness of domestic violence throughout the country.

The criminal code penalizes rape, including spousal rape; however, spousal rape was not reported or prosecuted in practice. The concept of spousal rape was not well established, and often neither authorities nor the public considered it to be a crime. The law imposes penalties for rape and assault depending on the age of the victim. For rape of an adult, the prison term is three to 10 years, rape of an adolescent age 14 to 18 is five to 15 years and rape of a child under 14 is seven to 15 years' imprisonment.

The law prohibits prostitution; however, it was a problem. Trafficking in women and children remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, it was rarely enforced in practice.

Women were not excluded, by law or in practice, from any occupation; however, they were not well represented at the highest levels of their fields. The law mandates equal pay for equal work; however, this provision was not fully implemented. According to a March report by Amnesty International (AI) women earned 20 to 50 percent as much as men. Men owned 92 percent of the land in the country and earned 84 percent of the country's gross domestic product, although women continued gradually to gain economic power.

Women enjoyed equal access to higher education, but in some rural areas they represented 24.9 percent of students enrolled in higher education, and the dropout rate was greater for girls than for boys. According to the Albanian Institute of Statistics there were twice as many illiterate women (2 percent of the population) as illiterate men (1 percent).

Women were not accorded full and equal opportunity in their careers, and well-educated women were often underemployed or worked outside their field of training.

The law provides equal rights for men and women under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. In practice, cultural traditions resulted in men often being favored over women. In May the government abolished the State Committee on Equal Opportunity, which was responsible for drafting, promoting, and monitoring governmental gender equality programs, and replaced it with a new Directorate of Equal Opportunity within the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity. In May the government also abolished the Interministerial Committee on Gender Equality, an advisory body. In November, together with civil society partners, the directorate presented to the council of ministers a national strategy against domestic violence.