It is uncertain when the Western Balkans will reach adequate coverage of COVID-19 vaccinations for a population of 18 million people. One certainty remains, however. Even when a sizable number of women return to employment lost in the pandemic, the gender inequality robbing women of opportunities will not disappear – holding the region back from reaching its potential and building resilience to future shocks, reads an op-ed by Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and Mirjana Spoljaric, Regional Director for UNDP’s Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
According to them, getting women back to work is more than ever an imperative. To support this, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Regional Cooperation Council launched the Women’s Economic Empowerment initiative for the Western Balkans in December 2020.
This new initiative is rooted in strengthening networks and collaboration on a wide array of gender-related issues. It provides the strategic framework needed at this critical juncture to identify and implement the actions and policy reforms to empower women and close the gender leadership gap.
“Women’s economic empowerment and ability to thrive in safe and productive environments, at work and home, are necessary conditions for the Western Balkans to achieve sustainable growth and development,” Bregu and Spoljaric said.
They added that an increase in women’s entrepreneurship and participation in the labour force would bring GDP in the Western Balkans region up by up to 20 percent.
“Women’s leadership in politics and the economy is also a smart investment. Empirical evidence shows that higher women’s representation increases the quality of governance. In contrast, companies with higher share of women in top management positions are more likely to have sustained profitable growth,” Bregu and Spoljaric noted.
Gender equality is also an important part of the EU strategic engagement within the framework of enlargement negotiations. Closing gender gaps in the labour market and achieving equal participation across different sectors of the economy are key objectives of the European Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy.
One of the initiative’s early priorities is to increase women’s participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. The number of Western Balkans women dropping out of their studies, or of their careers in STEM, is worrisome, as it reaches 70 percent.
Bregu and Spoljaric stressed that a return to the pre-pandemic status quo will leave the Western Balkans lagging. If we fail to adopt a gender perspective in our responses to the pandemic, we fail to build resilient societies and reinforce growing inequalities.
“Women are the key to unlocking the economic potential in this region. Helping them obtain the skills and experience to manage and drive businesses, and focus on financial education, including training on identifying the right financial products and services, will ensure that women control assets and lead on the path to sustainability,” they concluded.
