The parliament drafts the law with the aim of complying with the the European Union standards. Faith groups say that the law goes beyond equality between men and women, promoting ideological issues.
Photo: [link]Seval Torun[/link], Unsplash CC0.
The Albanian Parliament recently approved the Gender Equality draft law, which updates the 2008 legal framework on gender equality, with 77 votes in favor and 36 against.
The bill prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity or sexual characteristics, in order to meet the benchmarks on gender equality and anti-discrimination required to join the European Union.
It also states that women should hold between 30% and 50% of decision-making roles in public and political bodies, such as parliament, the diplomatic service, and the police.
All Evangelical Focus news and opinion, on your WhatsApp.
According to media sources, the draft law also puts the burden of proof of gender-based violence on the offender rather than the victim, and officially recognizes unpaid care work, such as childcare and eldercare, requiring the government to measure and budget for it.
The bill defines gender as “socially constructed roles, behaviors, and attributes considered appropriate for women and men by a given society”.
Not all aspects initially intended to be featured in the law made it through the amendment process. The law explicitly defines only two genders, since lawmakers in the process rejected the inclusion of terms such as “gender diversity”, “gender identity” and “gender expression”, reports news website Euronews.
The recently approved draft law has raised controversy from the outset, especially from the Democratic party and the main faith groups in the country.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Albania VUSH issued a statement two days before the voting of the bill, expressing its rejection.
Evangelicals emphasise that they “are fully in support of the equality and dignity of every human being, both men and women, created in the image of God”.
However, “this bill, in its current form, goes beyond the concept of gender equality, rewriting the definition of gender and paving the way for ideologies that conflict with the biblical, family and cultural values of Albanian society”, underlined the Fellowahip.
They warned that the approval of the draft law “could have serious consequences” for children's education, “through the introduction of ideological concepts into the education system”, as well as for “the traditional understanding of the family, as a union between a man and a woman”.
The statement also stressed that freedom of belief is “one of the fundamental human rights in a democratic society”.
Albanian evangelicals represnted through the Albanian Evangelical Alliance, call on “all our churches to pray for the country, for its leaders, and for the preservation of the fundamental values of family, life and faith”.
“May God bless Albania and grant our leaders wisdom and justice in their decision-making”, concludes the statement.
Several weeks before the approval of the draft law, the Interfaith Council of Albania, which represents the five recognized religious communities in the country: the Muslim Community of Albania, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, the Catholic Church in Albania, the Bektashi World Headquarters, and the Evangelical Fellowship of Albania, sent a letter to the Albanian government, expressing the concern of the religious groups about the Gender Equality bill.
“The Council is fully supportive of respect and equality for every individual, but stressed that any legal intervention must preserve a balance between individual rights, social values, and the biological nature of human beings”, read the letter.
It also pointed out that “legislation should not become an instrument of ideological or cultural imposition, particularly in children’s education”.
[analysis]
[title]Join us to make EF sustainable[/title]
[photo][/photo]
[text]At Evangelical Focus, we have a sustainability challenge ahead. We invite you to join those across Europe and beyond who are committed with our mission. Together, we will ensure the continuity of Evangelical Focus and our Spanish partner Protestante Digital in 2025.
Learn all about our #TogetherInThisMission initiative here (English).
[/text][/analysis]
Las opiniones vertidas por nuestros colaboradores se realizan a nivel personal, pudiendo coincidir o no con la postura de la dirección de Protestante Digital.
Si quieres comentar o