Evaluating gender equality in politics and the labour market: the case of Albania

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide an evaluation of the progress made in Albania to achieve gender balance in two main areas – political decision-making and the labour market – in terms of the degree of alignment with the requirements of the Beijing Platform for Action and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The methodology relies on qualitative research and is developed through an in-depth analysis of statistical data, mainly collected by the Institute of Statistics of Albania (INSTAT) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). The findings indicate that women remain under-represented in parliament as well as in the labour market. Progress was made prior to Covid-19 in the context of gender gaps in employment, but in 2020 the situation changed and they fell back before rising in 2021, leaving the situation as regards women’s labour force participation steady. Other results are quite promising and show particular strides in the position of the gender pay gap and in terms of women’s political participation in the Albanian cabinet, ranking Albania in both cases better than the EU-27.