Short description of the region

The countries of the region, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic (FRY) of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, with a total population of 19,6 million, belong to the least developed countries in Europe. The average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in 2002 was 1.544 Euro ranging from 710 Euro in Kosovo to 2.055 Euro in Serbia and Montenegro. Albania and Macedonia are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO); Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro are in the process of joining. These Western Balkan countries are also progressing towards EU membership within the framework of the so-called Stabilisation and Association process.

Macroeconomic overview

Transition to the market economy has been delayed because of armed conflicts and exclusion from the international community during the periods of conflict. The region’s Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), dictated by the International Monetary Found (IMF), are similar to other SAPs in that they require the removal of obstacles to international trade and foreign investments, the privatisation of public services, labour market flexibility and the reduction of all social costs. The countries of the region are characterised by political uncertainties and weak institutions. Moreover, they are struggling to transform their economies. The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and associated hostilities and conflicts, followed by sanctions, cut off important markets and transit routes to all the countries. This, plus the Kosovo crisis and the NATO intervention in 1999, have severely crippled economic activities and engendered a high level of uncertainty in all the successor states. As the economic system was designed to foster close ties among the republics, its dissolution has magnified the downward spiral of economic activity.

Source: European Commission, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, The Western Balkans in transition, Occasional Papers no. 5, Brussels, January 2004

Impact of EU policies on the region

In 2000, within the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (SPSEE), the World Bank (WB) and its main regional development partners adopted a report on a comprehensive approach to development for South East Europe (SEE). The report outlined how quickly the SEE countries and their private sectors should move towards trade integration with the EU ^[3] . Domestic sector reform priorities have been put in place including the implementation of privatisation and structural reforms as well as policies to encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), to eliminate labour market inefficiencies and reduce rigidity in labour market legislation, to promote trade liberalisation, and to reduce the size of the public sector and overall level of public spending.

Most of the experiences of moving from a communist/socialist regime and state-led economies to free market economies have been negative. The effects have included increasing poverty, insecurity, unemployment, crime, and corruption; a vanishing middle class; and new economic and political elites arising from amongst war profiteers and former communist leaders. Furthermore, there is a widening gap between the poor and the rich. Registered unemployment is very high as much as 36% in Serbia and Montenegro. However, real unemployment levels are believed to be much higher - possibly as high as 55% in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Decreased opportunities for employment are also leading to a ‘brain-drain’ of young educated people as they seek opportunities elsewhere.

The privatisation process has lead to the abolishment of economic and social rights and inadequate protective mechanisms; a lack of respect for international labour and environmental standards; a lack of transparency. Moreover, there is no legislation on corporate responsibility. The need to make the economy attractive for foreign investments is being used as justification for all these legal changes.

Of course, all these policies are not gender-neutral. Women have absorbed the shock of the adjustment by intensifying their unpaid work necessary because of budget cuts in basic public services such as education, social services, and health care. The costs of the care economy and other reproductive costs are not included in the national income outputs and thus they become invisible. This is just one example of the negative effects of the SAP and how it impacts women’s lives. With regard to gender equality in the economic sector, two other issues emerge: the extent to which a gender bias exists in the shift to the informal market; and the increased pressure on women’s time, with its negative effect on their health and welfare.

As the state has retreated from its role as a social institution and public expenditure is reduced, so too the tax and benefit systems have been objects of region-wide reforms. The general trend has been to maintain the individual as the unit for taxes and benefits, and use an individual’s employment history to determine benefits and entitlement levels. But the employment history of women is more likely to have been interrupted and shorter which means they are more adversely affected. Across the region, pension systems are also being reformed with substantial erosion in the value of the benefit paid to all recipients. Men will benefit more than women from both these reforms and will gain more in terms of total benefits.

Common characteristics in the region regarding gender equality issues

The economic and social status of women is declining. This is due to:

• A re-patriachalisation of the societies, pushing women from the public sphere and labour market (paid work) to the private sphere (family and child care);
• High levels of bankruptcy leading to the dismissal of workers;
• Increasing unemployment and flexibility of labour market;
• Cuts in social services and public spending;
• The abolishing of economic and social rights gained;
• A reduction of workers’ rights and protection laws plus weakened trade unions;
• The horizontal and vertical segregation of women in the labour market;
• The increasing shift of the labour force, particularly of women, from a formal economy to informal economy;
• The fact that women are more ready than men to accept unfavourable working conditions, often in the informal economy.
• Women have been excluded from the privatisation process: very few women are owners of enterprises; they tend more often to be employees rather than employers.
• Women own less land, and other assets.
• Poverty is becoming increasingly feminised. Those most vulnerable to poverty such as self-supporting mothers, rural women, minority women, the elderly, Roma, housewives, are the least visible.
• Women are often excluded, isolated or removed from decision making. This can be seen in the decreasing number of women in parliaments and in decision making positions. Women are also excluded from the peace negotiations and stabilisation processes.
• Discrimination and violence against women are both increasing. Despite the adoption of many of the acquis international commitments to secure equal opportunities for women these are not respected de facto. The principles of gender mainstreaming are widely acknowledged but implementation lags behind. Laws and other measures are inadequate to eliminate discrimination and violence against women.
• There is a lack of research on women’s position in society, their position in the labour market, the level of violence against women, and the impact of economic and social policies on women’s livelihoods. In addition where data is available it is rarely gender disaggregated.
• Gender sensitive budgeting does not exist or, as in the case of Serbia, has even been rejected.
• Policy makers and the public lack gender awareness.

Impact of EU legislation on gender equality issues

The harmonisation of domestic legislation with EU legislation has been beneficial for women, as it has meant adopting and developing laws, legal measures and mechanisms for protecting women’s rights and empowering women. As part of the EU membership process, all the governments in the region have started to develop and set up national machineries for advancement of women ^[4] and adopt laws on equal opportunities of both sexes ^[5] . The governments have set quotas for women’s political participation; and women’s concerns relating to their position in the labour market and their access to resources are integrated into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). In spite of these achievements, de facto gender equality is far from being realised. In all countries of the region, the governments give priority to the managing of the economic and political situation, with gender issues being a much lower priority. In addition, implementation of the adopted legislation is slow and inconsistent.

Recommendations for policy change

To the EU institutions

• To promote a human rights/women’s rights based approach to development, and to create a social Europe, not one focusing purely on profit and economic growth.
• To analyse the impact of EU policies on the neighbouring countries from gender and human rights perspective, and to develop policies that would create opportunities for economic development and well being for all people in all the European countries.
• To take appropriate measures and develop a long-term policy aimed at promoting rule of law, gender equality, social justice and human rights in all the European countries, including the EU non-members countries, in order to build a new Europe without borders, wars, conflicts, poverty, unemployment etc. The achievement of this goal is not possible without the elimination of the existing gap between the EU members and non-EU members.
• To support comparative research/analysis of past accession processes and how the EU enlargement has influenced the neighbouring countries (looking at unemployment, poverty, migration of workers, living standard, cross-boarder crime and sex-trafficking, etc.). The EU also needs to look at how the isolation/exclusion of the EU neighbouring countries influence the EU (e.g. in terms of wage levels, labour markets, unemployment).
• To include gender perspectives and gender assessments of the EU policies in all agreements and negotiations with the EU neighbouring countries.
• To support and encourage women to put forward their candidacy for the European Parliament elections, and to promote women’s interethnic cooperation within parliamentarian and non-parliamentarian frameworks.
• To develop corporate responsibility mechanisms that would oblige enterprises and corporations to protect human rights and provide safe working environments.
• To urge governments in the EU neighbouring countries to interact with and support women’s NGOs and create sustainable national structures/mechanisms for the advancement of women.
• To support national governments to implement and regularly assess gender mainstreaming policies, including gender budgeting as a tool for monitoring and assessing the differentiated impacts of EU policies on women and men, and for supporting gender equality objectives.
• To establish a European agency on advancement of gender equality and women’s rights. This agency should have enforcement powers.
• To take measures to engender macroeconomic and trade policy decision-making. This should include identifying the impacts of current policies and programmes on different groups of women and men; addressing gender power relations; and recognizing the care economy as a component of the formal economy.
• To support national governments in Europe to stop the current negotiations in the framework of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The privatisation of social services and public goods will increase poverty in all EU and non-EU member states.

To the national governments in the Western Balkans

• To include gender mainstreaming and gender equality issues in all domestic legislation.
• To adopt and implement effective equal opportunity legislation. Sufficient financial support should be provided to support the implementation of this legislation.
• To integrate gender issues into all national strategies (economic development, employment, poverty reduction, access to training, education, health, etc.), with special attention to the most vulnerable groups of women.
• To develop a National Strategy for Advancement of Women based on commitments to the CEDAW, Beijing Platform for Action, ILO conventions and the EU directives and recommendations.
• To secure adequate representation of women in the parliaments and decision making positions, as well as in the conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction.
• To introduce and implement sex-disaggregated data in the analysis of the impact of economic, trade, social, pension, health, education etc. policies. To formulate indicators to measure gendered impact for reporting, monitoring and policy change.
• To reject the transition model based merely on economic growth and profit; to avoid “copy-paste” programmes and strategies dictated by the International Financial Organisations in creating healthy environment for economic development and democratisation of the countries, without taking into consideration the particular economic and political context and needs and interests of families, women and men.
• To analyse the consequences of joining the EU from gender perspective.

This infosheet was produced with the financial assistance of the European Commission, DG Education and Culture. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the EC or of WIDE.  

Women in Development Europe ©
http://www.wide-network.org

^[1] World Bank Group, 2004 World Development Indicators, 2004

^[2] Table 1: Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2003
http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2003/cpi2003.en.html 

^[3] Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, The Road to Stability and Prosperity in South Eastern Europe - A Regional Strategy Paper, 1 March 2000. With the World Bank (WB) and cooperation with its main development partners in the region (European Commission (EC), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Council of Europe and Council of Europe Development Bank) it looked at the speed of acceptance for trade integration with the EU was the SEE primary goal in moving forward.

^[4] For example, the Secretariat for Labour and Gender Equality at the Executive Council of Vojvodina, the counselling body at the government of Serbia, the office for gender equality in Montenegro.

^[5] For example, in the Serbian province of Vojvodina the provincial parliament has recently adopted a Declaration on Gender Equality.