Looking into the mirror

By Anicca Marie Juraschka Sullivan

Wednesday 22 June 2022 

 

“Until 2019, the fine you would get for beating your woman in public was similar to the fine you get for parking wrong” - this sentence by Dafina Prekazi, Project Manager at the Kosovo Gender Studies Center, really struck me. We are standing on the sidewalk next to a bustling street in Pristina, taxis are honking, and pedestrians are passing by. Everything around us is buzzing, moving, but we are standing still, heads tilted upward, staring at a previously insignificant grey building. In the past days, this grey wall has been transformed into a powerful mural, initiated by the Kosovo Gender Studies Center, and painted by artist Fitore Berisha. “Today is a special day,” Dafina tells us. We are the first group they officially reveal the freshly completed mural to.

 

Two women’s faces are painted on a vibrant blue background, their eyes staring down at us reproachfully. A shiver runs down my spine, I feel observed. I can’t decide whether I find the women’s eyes cold, strong, disappointed, beautiful, angry, scared, or everything at once. While I try to figure out what I am feeling and seeing, Dafina elaborates on the meaning of the artwork. Its purpose is to honor the victims of femicide in Kosovo, especially since the number of women killed by domestic violence has increased during the pandemic. Both women depicted on the wall are ghosts, killed by their husbands. Their eyes are focused on the observer, signaling how these women feel betrayed by society, silently calling “why didn’t you do anything?” Shards of mirrors sparkle warningly in the corner of their eyes and in their eyebrows, making society reflect on the need for action. “The mirror pieces are supposed to make you look at yourself. We can do more, need to do more. We need to prevent future cases,” Dafina says.

 

After hearing the meaning behind the mural, my thoughts start spiraling. “Until 2019, the fine you would get for beating your woman in public was similar to the fine you get for parking wrong” - again and again, this sentence echoes throughout my head. How is it possible that women’s lives are still considered worth less than men’s in our world? How is it possible that we are seen as so inferior, as objects that can be utilized as a tool for men to feel powerful and in control? I turn to Dafina, asking her, hopefully, whether the number of cases has decreased, now that domestic violence is officially a criminal offense in Kosovo. She shakes her head, telling me that the reported numbers have actually gone up. “But this is good because it means more women are daring to report abuse, and this results in us being able to help more victims.”

 

The role of women in Kosovo is something I am struggling to wrap my mind around. On the one hand, Kosovan women’s lives are impacted by the daily reality of living in a strongly patriarchal society with deeply ingrained sexism, and domestic violence toward women remains a big societal issue. On the other hand, more and more Kosovar women are becoming empowered and are taking on leadership positions. Viosa Osmani, for example, is currently Kosovo’s second female president - an achievement that the Netherlands can currently only dream of. Speaking to these amazing women’s rights activists at the Kosovo Gender Studies Center made me realize two things: Kosovo still has a long way to go when it comes to gender equality and respectful treatment of women, but it is moving in the right direction. Let us hope that the glittering eyes of the victims depicted on this powerful mural will remind everyone passing by that each one of us has the responsibility to fight for this right direction, step by step. Not only in Kosovo, but worldwide.