Teaching Her Sisters to ‘Fly’
How one Albanian trailblazer is empowering women leaders through her example and setting a path for future generations
Albania is known as the land of the eagle — a symbol used in the country’s flag, literature and history to represent bravery, strength and valor.
Edlira Çepani, a long-time gender activist in Albania, compares the promotion of women’s rights in the historically patriarchal society to the national bird.
“If we don’t fly together in the same way, we won’t fly at all,” she said.
A lawyer by profession, Edlira was born in Mexico and grew up in Cuba as the daughter of diplomats — her father was the ambassador to Cuba from Albania. She said living abroad most of her life has driven her to remain connected to her homeland and has inspired her to contribute to developing a more equal Albania for women.
In 2012, she was elected unanimously into her first four-year term as the chairwoman of the Women’s Network Equality in Decision Making (EDM). The network was established in 2008 by a group of women and girls who formed strong bonds during a National Endowment for Democracy-supported political skills development program hosted by the National Democratic Institute. The event was the first of its kind in Albania.
EDM quickly became the largest network of politically active Albanian women and girls from political parties, civil society and media organizations. Today, EDM has more than 100 members from a variety of backgrounds from all 12 regions of the country.
Edlira said no one believed in the beginning that the network would survive.
“Yet, we are still here after 10 years,” said Edlira. “We found that women sort it out and work together, and women’s empowerment can transform our communities and country.”
Setting an Example of Gender Equality
The 1992 elections ended 47 years of communist rule in Albania. Since then, the country has set out to establish a pluralist political system that protects and advances democracy and fundamental human rights. However, Albanian politics are prone to disruptive partisanship that impedes progress toward anti-corruption and rule-of-law reforms that are necessary for European Union accession. Civil society is active but frustrated by a lack of access to decision-makers, and many Albanians feel disconnected from their elected representatives, who have historically not been women.
Working to curb these trends, EDM has set an example for cross-party collaboration, and established an effective formula to push for stronger women’s presence in political parties and elected offices. Through peer support, women in Albania have started to coalesce around important issues and advocate for change by asserting their voice in the policy debate.
The first battle was passing a gender equality law in the local election of 2008, which established a minimum 30 percent quota for women in municipal councils and stipulated that one of the first three names on the political parties’candidate lists for national elections must be a female candidate. The second was identifying qualified women and raising their public profiles.
EDM created an online database of women experts in every field, and then trained participants to use social media to promote themselves in the media and with political parties. But this wasn’t enough; they needed to also tackle how the Albanian media reinforces gender stereotypes by giving women less air time and fewer opportunities to speak on talk shows and in the news.
Through gender-sensitivity training for 65 journalists, USAID-supported EDM created awareness for the content of the messages they transmit. And in 2011, EDM established the Virtual Platform for Women to connect women candidates with the trained journalists and to offer women a venue to support and promote each other.
“The way we report can change the mentality of Albanians,” said Zina Toskee, a reporter with the Albanian Teleghnophic Agency, who participated in the EDM training and encouraged her news director to use nondiscrimination language in published content. “I am only one journalist that writes this way, but I know it sets the example for my colleagues.”
With EDM’s support, Albania has taken a number of laudable steps to open doors for women. But barriers still exist, especially during election campaigns. Research conducted by the EDM, through the National Democratic Institute during the 2017 parliamentary campaign found that women candidates did not have access to the same political finance and party resources as men to run their campaigns, nor did they have the position within their respective party to change inequalities.
The study also showed that women, who often self-finance their campaigns, are less likely to run again in the future due to cost and the lack of transparency in the process.
Still, women took a step forward in the 2017 elections. Of 2,666 candidates total, 1,074 (or 40 percent) were women, and the new parliament welcomed 39 women as parliamentarians, a historic number.
In 2008, women held only 10 of the 140 seats in Albania’s parliament.
By partnering with local leaders like Edlira, USAID is empowering women leaders, and setting a path for a transparent and equal future. This is critical as Albania continues to transition into a citizen-responsive democracy.
“My passion for the work I do motivates me, and I truly believe in the power of civil society, and especially women, to bring real change to a country,” said Edlira. “In every part of the world, but especially in Albania, women are the pillars, and if they are supported, the country has the ability to be very developed.”
About the Author
Jessica Benton Cooney is the Lead Communications and Outreach Specialist for USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance. Follow @USAIDDRG for more.
