While Shurdhani hesitates to apply for grants after the unpleasant experience, Lume, a woman in her fifties from Gjilan who did not want to be identified by her real name, has not applied at all because she was demotivated from the outset. She has worked from home as a seamstress for over 20 years and has recently started preparing and selling traditional foods.

She asked someone about the grant procedures because she needed a new sewing machine, but ultimately, she was intimidated by the process and didn’t follow through, even though she needed the support. “A lot of people told me that it requires a lot of effort, you have to fill out a mountain of documents, and to wait a lot, so this is how you’re left behind. So I gave up, it demoralized me,” she said.

Although the government and various nongovernmental organizations promote calls to support women’s businesses, it seems that these calls are not reaching all women.

In February 2024, the GAP Institute published a research report on the challenges and opportunities of market access for businesses owned by women and minority communities in Kosovo.

The report, includes findings from focus groups with 35 business representatives and interviews with stakeholders. Those included in the report, besides mentioning the insufficiency of grants from the local and central government, emphasize that the excessive documentation required at the central level makes applying for grants or subsidies significantly more difficult.

Also, in some cases, applicants are required to submit applications in physical copies, mainly to the headquarters of the institutions in Prishtina. This request is seen as an additional expense and difficulty that disproportionately affects applicants who do not live in Prishtina.

According to this report, cultural and gender biases, limited financial resources, burdensome bureaucratic processes and mistrust in the selection criteria for receiving grants are also major challenges for businesses led by women or minority communities.

These may be aspects that contribute to female unemployment, which continues to remain high when compared to that of men. In the first quarter of 2023, according to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, the unemployment rate among job-seeking women was 18.6% compared to 8.6% among men. Overall, of the 132,702 women of working age in Kosovo, only 22.8% participate in the labor force.

In addition to the difficulties in accessing grants, women in Kosovo face a series of other obstacles stemming from structural deficiencies in addressing the gender gap in employment, the lack of gender-sensitive policies and rigid gender roles that continue to burden women.

Not only one job

The hope of finding a job had made Lume learn how to use a sewing machine. As a young woman, she completed a tailoring course. After that, she spent her days and nights working with a sewing machine to perfect her craft.

“I stayed up all night learning how to use it and to make my own money. I used to stay all night long to figure it out, I had so much will to work,” she said.

Initially, she could not find a job. Then the birth of children and her need to look after them became a decisive factor. She stopped looking for work and started finding clients who she could serve as a seamstress on her own.

“It is very difficult because the payment [from sewing cushion covers] was low and my children were still little. I had to do the housework, prepare the meals, take care of the children, and sew the cushion covers on top of that,” she said. “I didn’t have anyone to look after my children.”

Hindered in many ways

Kosovo’s labor market continues to be uninviting for women.

Women, twice as likely to be involved in informal work

Bubulina Peni

Hindered in many ways

Kosovo’s labor market continues to be uninviting for women.

Women, twice as likely to be involved in informal work

Bubulina Peni