On 8 Sep. UNDP published its human development report in Kosovo for 2016, which included recommendations from KWN’s report “Striking a Balance: Policy Options for Amending Kosovo’s Law on Labour to Benefit Women, Men, Employers and the State’”.

     These recommendations  related to amending the Labour Law to include more equitable maternity and paternity leave provisions, towards improving women’s access to the labor market. This followed significant evidence that women are facing discrimination in hiring and during and after pregnancy.

       KWN’s has recommended  that amendments to the Labor Law allow for shared paid leave of up to three months each for both mothers and fathers, totaling six months of leave. Further, paternity and paternal leave will promote men’s involvement in child care and offer men more equal rights to parenting, which could impact social norms and traditional roles of women and men in society.

     According to the UNDP report, Making the Labour Market Work for Women and Youth,women and youth are the most vulnerable and excluded from the labor market.

      Following the presentation of findings, panelists including KWN’s Iliriana Banjska, discussed the UNDP report where Banjska explained how KWN has surveyed women and men in the labor market to see how they have been affected by the current leave provisions, the availability of child care facilities and socio-cultural norms that are barriers to women’s access to the labor market.

    “The argument that economic growth and increasing the number of jobs will solve the problem of a high unemployment rate is not entirely correct,” she said. I Simply creating jobs will not help “"if we don’t tackle socio-cultural norms that discriminate against women in entering the labor market and influence the type of work that they are deemed able to do.”

    UNDP Senior Advisor Ben Slay noted that the report calls for measures to educate youth and women. In terms of unemployment, it provides concrete policy recommendations.

     The Finnish Ambassador to Kosovo, Anne Huhtamäki, encouraged the empowerment of women, the establishment of care systems and parental leave as important tools to help women enter the labor market.

    The meeting concluded with panelists agreeing for the need to increase women’s labour market involvement, and, to this end, the importance of shared parental leave.