Balkan Women Face Fight for Inheritance

During the Kosovo war, Serbian police killed Shyhrete Berisha’s husband and four children.  Not only did Berisha lose her family, but she also lost the home they shared, a house belonging to her father-in-law.  After the war, Berisha recalls her mother-in-law telling her, “What do you need the house for? Everyone’s been killed.  It’s our house now.”  Refusing to give her the keys, Berisha had nowhere to go.

Berisha’s story highlights a problem occurring across the Balkans—discrimination amongst women in inheritance cases.  In these patriarchal societies, property and assets traditionally pass to the male heirs of the family, excluding women in spite of their legal entitlement to inherit. 

Although some officials and activists are trying to change attitudes through publicity campaigns, they are confronted by resistance from traditionalists and slow, overloaded legal systems. 

According to Kosovo law, when someone dies, their assets are divided among family members with the spouse and children receiving priority.  If a will exists, it can only exclude family members for specific conditions, none being related to gender.  While campaigns to promote gender equality have been underway, old traditions die hard.  Many still believe that property should be passed down through the male line along with the family name. 

Though this system may be slow to change, Berisha received the help of international charities to take legal action in Kosovo and win back her home. 

See Jeta Abazi Gashi, Feature—Balkan Women Face Fight to Inherit Property, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Nov. 18, 2014.