Stories of Change – Shkurta Hodolli

We’ll start this week with the story of change of Shkurta Hodolli, a senior student at the Faculty of Law, University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”. She is also part of the Center for Human Rights (HRCUP) within the University of Prishtina, and Peace Ambassador by the Universal Peace Federation in Kosovo.

Shkurta begins her story of change by telling us the meaning of her name. She tells that they named her “Shkurta” so that a boy would be born in her family after her. There is a superstition in Kosovar society that the name “Shkurta” will consequently “give an end” to having girls and after that, a boy would be born.

“When I started to understand the world better, I understood the oppression of women and girls by our patriarchal society, in this case, mine too. This applies to almost all women/girls who have the same name. This implies that our oppression started since our birth”, Shkurta says.

She faced gender-based discrimination during her studies as well, so she decided to become part of the HRCUP and advocate for human rights within the University. This year, HRCUP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SIT within the project “Young Men Initiative”, which she considers to be a positive result.

“Before starting the cooperation between University of Prishtina and YMI – the frequent use of sexist terms in university materials, having to face discrimination in practice/during internships, and also the lack of university materials on these topics – made it much more difficult to get rid of the patriarchal mentality. Whereas, now I get to understand and analyze gender stereotypes easier. I’ve learned new terms which I was unaware of, and most importantly, as a law student now I have a gender-sensitive approach in all aspects.”

She says that learning at the University of Prishtina is always theoretical, excluding practice, and adds that this is what is special about this project – that students are able to gain new knowledge through practice. Shkurte says that this is the first cooperation between the University of Prishtina and an organization in regard to these topics, thus students of the University of Prishtina are gaining knowledge on promoting gender equality and human rights, and preventing gender-based violence. 

This cooperation is ongoing and Shkurta says that there were a lot of interested applicants when the call was initially opened. The students’ Club who are part of the project has now been established and they are engaged in several initiatives with students, and besides trainings and meetings, they will also start the first joint research.

“I am certain that there will be a positive change at the University and this cooperation will make the University of Prishtina deal more with these issues, and also include the YMI manuals at the University of Prishtina syllabuses. This is more than necessary and it would be a great success since a lot of students would gain knowledge.”

This story has been prepared within the project “Men and Boys as Partners in Promoting Gender Equality and the Prevention of Youth Extremism and Violence in the Balkans”, implemented by CARE International Balkans in partnership with SIT – Center for Counseling, Social Services and Research and YMCA in Kosovo and supported by Austrian Development Agency, and Oak Foundation.

YMI – Young Men Initiative #CareInternational #CARE #AustriaDevelopmentAgency #OAKFoundatio