UNMIK/PR/768
Friday, June 28, 2002

Speech by PDSRSG Charles Brayshaw to the Women's Parliamentarian Conference June 27-28, 2002
Pristina

Ambassador Menzies, Ambassador Hunt, distinguished Members of the Kosovo Assembly, Mrs. Dobruna:

I am honored to have been asked to join you here today. I feel inspired by your participation in this important conference and by the enthusiasm of each of you.

I want to especially thank Ambassador Swanee Hunt for launching this event. Her deep understanding of the Balkans and her commitment to increasing women's leadership roles will be valuable to your work in the next two days.

Kosovo has made a long and painful journey over the past decade. Its long struggle for justice and harmony among its ethnic communities culminated in the eruption of violence that damaged and destroyed lives in all of Kosovo's communities. This violence also brought havoc to the political and professional lives of women as parents, as doctors, as lawyers, as civil servants and as engineers. As with all of Kosovo's people who were forced to reduce their life focus to personal survival, women's ability to contribute the advancement of society was crippled.

This lost decade is now behind you. You now stand at the forefront of a new struggle. Kosovo's communities, with strong and committed international support, are creating a free and democratic society for the first time in history. In this new society, Kosovo's women will have the opportunity to make contributions that reflect their skills, dedication, and desire. But, this is no easy path. As we face the challenge of overcoming ethnic divides, we face an equally demanding task of overcoming a gender divide.

Rebecca West, English feminist, journalist and chronicler of life in the Balkans wrote in 1937:

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat"

Everyone in this room today is well acquainted with the status and role of women in Kosovo society. There is no need for me to detail the challenges that Kosovo faces in erasing the damaging weight of its gender divide. What I can tell you is that no society can progress at its optimum capacity unless it draws on the talents of all its members - unless it erases that gender divide. A society that fails to draw on the talents of its women loses half of its human capacity.

You must now draw from your common experience as women to join the rest of society in correcting the ills that were so evident to you over the past decade. This conference is intended to provide you a positive environment in which to do that and to consider what special contribution you have to make to Kosovo's advancement. Your potential as women often brings you closer to the real needs of families and communities where many of Kosovo's most serious problems are rooted. You know what it is like for families and communities to survive amidst the hardships brought about by political failures.

All members of Kosovo's elected government face the same historic challenge, but you have an added and special responsibility. You carry the perceptions and the prescriptions of the half of the population whose capabilities have long been relegated to only one part of Kosovo life, whose voices have been ignored and whose needs have been neglected.

You are a powerful force for change in Kosovo. You are not afraid of work - you have always been among the most dedicated and talented workers of this society. You now comprise 30% of the Kosovo Assembly. You are more than half of Kosovo's population. You have a remarkable potential, but only you can use this power and make it work for Kosovo. Once you do so, nothing can hold you or Kosovo back.

The spirit of this power you weild is evoked in these lines of a 1950s South African freedom song:

"Now that you have touched the women you have struck a rock,
you have dislodged a boulder,
you will be crushed!"

Kosovo needs your energy, ideas and influence in its new democratic institutions. The diversity among women and men will serve to strengthen the development of a more tolerant and vibrant society.

You have made great progress in the last 3 years. I see young women striving for a piece of the future - students, doctors, journalists, musicians, film makers. Your daughters want and deserve choices and a true voice in their new society. Their choices must be limited only by their talents and their voices limited only by the quality of their opinions.

With the Goddess on the Throne - recently brought back to Kosovo - let us be reminded of the central role of women among people who inhabited this land 6 millenia ago. Use her as your symbol of inspiration to create a Kosovo society where it is not thought unnatural for women to hold power, where there is substantial equality and where women join men as equal partners at the centre of social and political life.