" The situation in Albania is dramatic, and those who pay the highest price are women and girls ," Sali Berisha declared today during the conference "Making a difference: from influencers to decision-makers", organized by the Democratic Party and the Swedish foundation, 'Jarl Hjalmarson'.
Berisha: I have a special gratitude for the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, its president, Eva Gustavsson, a valued friend of the DP. I have a special gratitude for Ms. Margareta Cederfelt, for Ms. Wickland, for Ms. Li Borgs, present at this conference for the very important support they give to the Democratic Women's League, to our efforts in the very difficult conditions in which they operate today.
The theme of the conference and the treatment of the role of women in Albanian society is very fundamental.
In our society, but also in every society, even in the most advanced ones, the wall of patriarchy has been operating for centuries and millennia. And we will never forget that the issue of the role of women, the issue of gender equality, is first and foremost an issue of human rights. This inequality crystallized over the centuries, and which has some of the ugliest forms of its manifestation, is unfortunately the main enemy today of human rights, of girls and women, in Albania, Europe and in the world.
The situation of women and girls in Albania today is dramatic, as is the situation of Albanian society, but those who pay the most expensive price in this are women and girls, as Albania is the first and only country ruled by a narco-regime, an authoritarian dictatorship based on drugs, based on crime and the connections of power with crime.
In our government, we tried and made important steps in our battle against inequality, in our battle against the wall of patriarchy. I have emphasized and I emphasize, we managed to narrow the gap from a 36% difference in wages that existed between men and women to 17.8%.
We managed to narrow the financial and economic inequality, which is an extremely painful inequality, for Albanian girls and women. We managed to not only narrow this inequality, but Albanian girls and women were no longer the lowest paid in the region, but were the best paid in all countries in the region.
This achievement rolled over quickly .