Albania should do more in providing universal care for children thus giving you more opportunities to empower women. A study prepared by UN WOMEN and UNICEF has highlighted that Albanian women spend an average of 5 hours every day to take care of children, family, cooking and cleaning.

“In Albania over the years, especially as a result of COVID-19, investments and public expenditures for social protection have increased, however they still remain much lower than the EU average. UN Women works with the larger UN family to ensure that Albania is able to invest to meet its objectives and commitments for sustainable development,” said Michele Ribotta.

Experts recommend that providing universal care for children, not necessarily free but accessible to all, will affect women’s empowerment.

“First it is useful for children. We know from worldwide data that when children are in a learning environment early in their lives, their educational performance improves in the long term, but they also become stronger and more active citizens, and better prepared workers and more capable. Likewise, universal care for children – it is essential for women and their empowerment,” said Michele Ribotta.

Universal care for children, according to experts, is of great importance for society in general, because there are more women in the labor market, more services through the social care industry, creating more jobs, more fiscal income for place that can then be reinvested in additional services to communities.