Abstract

The aim of this research project is to serve as a guiding document towards the establishment of a taught Women’s and Gender Studies minor program at AUK which would offer students the opportunity to critically expand their views in the field of gender and actively promote the political, social and economic empowerment of women in Kosovo and the wider region through proactive gender equality initiatives and projects. The Gender Studies program will tackle the main theories that revolve around issues of gender, status of men and women in several spheres, analyze the discrepancies that can be found based on gender, with the purpose of applying those theories in the context of Kosovo. As a result, students would be able to identify the most vulnerable groups of women and focus on issues that women face by producing knowledge and research that can be used as a reference point by policymakers to create programs/projects that are carefully tailored to help women attain education, which is arguably the best tool to enhance women empowerment and a program in women’s studies at AUK aid in the betterment of position in Kosovar Society. The establishment of a WGS program at AUK would provide an academic framework and a firm theoretical grounding of how social variables such as gender can shape the economic, social and political state of a country, with Kosovar women being at the central focus. Thus, the WGS program would treat problems such as the inability of women to access education (particularly in rural areas), lower employment possibilities for women seeking jobs, or the issue of the disregard of rights when it comes to inheritance and women property ownership through research projects and advocacy initiatives. Further, the academic capacity at AUK and its position as one of the leading academic institutions in Kosovo makes this project a valuable undertaking for the impact on policy making centered on quality analysis through genderbalanced approaches. Additionally, in order to evaluate whether there is student interest to attend the WGS and the reasons that determine their demand, data were gathered through a stratified random sampling method. After identifying the answers to these questions, a probit regression was run to estimate what the probability of each student is to attend the program as based on the identified variables. Thus, based on the theoretical research and also through own finding the project offers some of the main recommendations and limitations that result from the study.

Publication Date

9-16-2013

Document Type

Senior Project

Student Type

Undergraduate

Advisor

Bowen, Brian

Advisor/Committee Member

Wechsler, William

Advisor/Committee Member

Luci, Nita

Comments

AUK Honor Society

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works in December 2013.

Campus

American University in Kosovo

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