Women’s Position and the Environment - Case Study: Kosovo

Abstract: Kosovo has gone through an unfortunate turn of events in its recent history. Wars, oppression years, and economic depression have had a staining influence in the society at large. However, women and the environment have been affected the most. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ecofeminist hypothesis that links the subordination of women to the degradation of the environment. The methods employed for the study are descriptive, where interviews, observations, conversations with woman were carried out, and laws, reports, press releases of the government were reviewed. With ecofeminism as the cupola of the study, one side of the analysis looks at women’s position in the Kosovar society, through Schwartz’s seven cultural value orientations theory, and the other investigates the discursive actions of the Kosovo government, through Dryzek’s discourse analysis framework. The results obtained reveal a picture of women’s subordination by the society, a subordination that is met with administrative measures for remediation but which fall short of tangible results. In the environmental dimension, a discourse of administrative rationalism is discovered, rationalism that deals superficially with EU’s directives and acquis communautaire.