Biography:Haki Stërmilli

Haki Stërmilli (1895–1953) was an Albanian writer and journalist. His works dealt mostly with issues related to the rights of Albanian communities outside Albania, republicanism, the emancipation of women and feminism. His best-known work is the novel Sikur të isha djalë (English: If I were a Boy).

‘If I were a boy’ – Feminist Analysis

     What's feminism? feminism is a troublesome term, it is one of those terms that defy simple explanation. Its complexity and diversity provide obstacles to many who are trying to understand it.  But a simple dictionary meaning can define it as an organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests whether these rights are political, social or economic. Many believe that feminism focuses on promoting the superiority of women over men, while in reality, it promotes the pursuit of equality and justice between the two genders. Moreover, it might even intersect with systemic racism, a hierarchical class system, sexuality, and nationality. There are many people who supported the dignity, intelligence, and basic human potential of the female sex, starting from ancient Greece as Sappho, the medieval world like Hildegard and Jane Austin back at the beginning of the nineteenth century. However, it was not until the late nineteenth century that the efforts for women's equal rights merged into an identifiable and self-conscious movement. The first feminism wave involved suffrage and political equality, second-wave attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities, while third-wave is continuing to address the financial, social and cultural inequalities.One of the male writers whose works mostly discussed problems of society and dealt with women's rights was Haki Stërmilli . Sikur t'isha djalë (If I were a Boy) is considered the first Albanian writing that widely explores the notion of women emancipation .

        Sikur të isha djalë  (If I were a boy) is a novel based on the diary of an Albanian young female called Shadije .The novel was written by a male author Haki Stërmilli not Shadije . Shadije is the narrator in his epistolary novel. The novel was written in Gheg dialect and Published in 1936.’’If I Were a Boy’’ is considered the first feminist book in Albanian literature. The novel is about a teenage-girl called Dije of 17 years old, living in Tirana, who experienced a harsh life with her stepmother who abused her. She was prohibited by her stepmother and her father to complete her education after primary school. Her father forced her to marry an aged man whom she did not love. Her husband raped her at the wedding night before even reaching her twenties. At her teens, she started to write her own diary.Then she died of tuberculosis. Through her diary which called ‘My life’ , she narrates everything about her own thoughts, feelings, family, father, and relatives. Dije struggles for equality in a male-dominated society where women are worth nothing. She seeks freedom of speech and emancipation of women in Albania’s patriarchal society. She advocates her life to challenge the injustice and the oppression till the moment she passed away. At the beginning of the novel she says “my life for the others, may be, does not mean anything, but for me it is important, as it is mine”. Dije has a strong belief in the value of life and how women should fight for their rights in a society dominated by men. Accordingly, she makes it clear that she wants to be heard, and that’s the reason she wants to be a boy. Through Dije’s diary, she makes it clear that if she were a boy, she would have talked loudly asking for women’s freedom and right for education.  “Our lives are empty, pointless, sad and without any colour. Being an Albanian woman is more similar to being dead than alive. We are imprisoned and every right is denied to us,” writes the poor teenage girl in her diary. Words with this bleak melancholic tone work as a mirror for reflecting how far the Albanian women suffered at the 20^th century Nevertheless, 14 years old Dije successes to overcome the bounders and restrictions that imposed upon her. She refuses to imply her stepmother’s instructions of cleaning the chimney risking her life till she becomes free to help at home the way she wishes. Furthermore, she convinces her father to go to her neighbour’s house Irena to learn her French. What is significant in these chains of events is that a young girl of only 14 years old managed to liberate herself from slavery.

Drawing a parallel between now and then

     

       Contextualized in today’s reality this novel is definitively a pamphlet of freedom and self-determination. The situation of human rights and especially women’s rights has improved considerably since then, but it still remains under pressure and more efforts are required for further progress. Although the patriarchal nuances depicted in the book have diminished significantly or the religious freedom is now widely respected (Albania is well-known for its religious tolerance), in terms of women’s empowerment we are yet behind, with respect to Western standards. The gender balance in the country is still interpreted in a descriptive representation mode, referring so only to political empowerment, namely the number of female ministers or members of the parliament.

       As the latest report of the European Commission  underlines, Albania needs to invest in the improvement of its institutional mechanisms that guarantee equality, besides the amendment of the legislative framework. Moreover, the financial gap should be covered so as to allow for the effective implementation of the national strategy and action plan (2016-2020) on gender equality. According to the 2017 World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index  , overall Albania ranks at the 38th place out of 144 countries, which is definitively a positive sign of improvement of the situation over time. However, more efforts are necessary both by the government and societal actors, in order to reflect this progress even in the sub-sectoral rankings, namely educational attainment (where the country is ranked 87th) and health and survival where it is placed 120th over 144 countries.

     As Dije repetitively argued in her diary, the education of women should become a first-hand priority, because the ‘woman is the first educator of the family’ and her capabilities do influence the preparedness level of the citizenry. Unfortunately, in the novel, Dije together with her boyfriend attempted to migrate to Italy in order to exert their inalienable to self-determination and to improve their life conditions, but this was not a viable option neither for the author nor it is for the youth living today in Albania or Western Balkans. The embodied realism and echo of this first feminist novel will still be vivid in our societies and thus its continues to be a must-read for everybody inside and beyond the borders of Albania.

Madhi, Gentiola. “Albania: ‘If I were a boy’.” Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. 3 Aug. 2018, //www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Albania/Albania-If-I-were-a-boy. Accessed 4 Dec. 2018.