‘’Sworn Virgins’’ - a transgenderal tradition

Ante Kolovrat

University of Split, Croatia

Faculty of Philosophy

INTRODUCTION

In this essay I will talk about a phenomenon which is widely spread on the Balkans

and also countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan with main focus of Albania. It is about

women who are forced, for one reason or another, to dress, talk, behave and live as a man,

assuming the appropriate gender role. The main goal of this research is to explore all the

characteristics of the societies in which this kind of discrimination was even possible to occur

and also to find out what are the main reasons for such things. I am also questioning just how

much a society can be infected by patriarchism that produces this type of phenomena. I will

also be dealing with different kinds of implications emerging from the just described

treatment of women, as well as with the possible practical consequences which might come

into light. The “sworn virgin” phenomena originates primarily in societies more primitive (if

one may use such a strong term) than modern western-oriented societies and are based on a

complete devaluation of most female gender roles, forcing women to assume predetermined

and deeply discriminatory positions within their microcosm. The concepts of sex and gender

are, therefore, presented like entirely opposite (based on their intrinsic properties and values)

which, in turn, presents them, as well as the concept of choice (freedom of choice), as having

a mere relative value. To conclude I will say that although this phenomenon is not so modern

and widely spread in the world, it can still be interesting to observe it from the point of view

of the notion of gender. This practice is almost unbelievable to understand without this notion.

The fact that it existed goes a long way to show that we need to study it, in order to be aware

of similar gender-related problems in the 21st century. In the end, I hope to acquire relevant

answers and provide new explanations to all of the problems and questions posed here.

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TRADITION OF SWORN VIRGINS

In areas of northern Balkan there was a tradition which stood: if there were no male

descends in a given family a woman was chosen to take their place. These women are called

‘’Sworn virgins’’ or Burrnesha as refered in Albania. They do all man's work, dress like one,

drink and smoke with men, are allowed to travel, etc. Although the phenomenon of sworn

virgins has its tradition in many countries, such as Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Croatia, it

is preserved to these days only in the northern parts of Albania where, mostly in mountains in

remote villages, there are still some sworn virgins left. There are many reasons for a tradition

like ‘’sworn virgins’’ to be developed in these areas. One of them is for sure the Kanun, a

tribal code law that originated in the 15th century, when the tradition of the ‘’sworn virgins’’

had been established. The Code of Lekë Dukagjini, or simply the Kanun, is a set of codes and

laws developed by Lekë Dukagjini and used mostly in northern Albania and Kosovo from the

15th century until the 20th century. This oral law has provided foundations for social

behaviour and government. The Kanun gives a detailed distinction between genders, the jobs

they are supposed to do, for instance, man’s work is hard labour, taking in the visitors and

talk with them, drink with them, also as head of the house to make vital decisions for the

household and of course blood-feud, revenging for the sake of the family’s honour. A

woman’s role is to give birth and raise children, to cook and clean. It is important to mention

that it is not a religious document so anyone can follow it. This law has put women at the

bottom rank of society. Its 29th article dictates that ''woman is a sack, made to endure.'1 It also

stands that women cannot choose their husbands, buy or sell property or express themselves

in society. According to the Kanun, families must be patrilineal (meaning wealth is inherited

through men in the family) and patrilocal (upon marriage, a woman moves into the household

of her husband's family). Marriages are arranged—often at birth, if not before, or in early

childhood. The Kanun points out that a woman is ethically permitted to become a man under

certain conditions. In order to become a sworn virgin she must take an oath in front of 12

witnesses which are tribal elders. Once she has done that she gains respect and is treated as

important member of society.2

1 Anonia Young, Larenda Twigg, '' Sworn virgins as enhancers of Albanian Patriarchal society in contrast to emerging roles for Albanian women''Etnološka tribina,32,Vol. 39,2009 str.120.

2 Young, Antonia. Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins. New York: Berg, 2000.

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REASONS FOR SUCH TRADITION

If a woman chooses not to marry her pre-arranged husband, she may not marry

anyone else. In order to remain unmarried, however, she must become a sworn virgin and

dress and act as a man. The other condition under which a woman may become a sworn virgin

is if her parents deem it so due to a lack of sons. It is a shame for a family not to have sons so

a woman must become a man and take their place as the head of the family. When blood

feuds decimated all the men in a family, the only way to salvage their honour was for a

woman to become the patriarch of the clan and start acting like a man. This tradition

supported the patriarchal system but it also provided for normally subordinated women to live

more freely.

ALBANIAN SOCIETY

For Albanian women it is hard to imagine living anyway different because they know

“their place” in society. When a woman gets married she almost loses her name, as from now

on she is being referred to as “wife of X”. The communist regime supressed this tradition

making men and women more equal, both through work as well as throughout communities

where everyone had to contribute. The regime fell some 20 years ago and instead of making

progress in terms of gender equality in modern Albania the position of women got worse.

Because of the unemployment that mostly hit women, men were leaving seeking fortune. A

question emerged – who was going to take their role? By taking an oath and becoming a

sworn virgin a woman transforms from a subject without rights and power to a fully respected

part of society. Like many societies throughout the world, here there are two genders—

masculine and feminine, which are signified by a simple statement – a dress. Men wear

trousers, wristwatches and close-fitting caps; women wear skirts, aprons, headscarves, and in

some more traditional households, veils. Thus, if a woman dresses like a man, she is a man.

Her dress changes her gender.3

FOREIGN EXPLORERS

3 Anonia Young, Larenda Twigg, '' Sworn virgins as enhancers of Albanian Patriarchal society in contrast to emerging roles for Albanian women''Etnološka tribina,32,Vol. 39,2009 p. 121.

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This phenomenon was drawing interest from the western explorers like Mary Durham

and Edward Leara. But after World War II very few researches was published. It is also

important to mention an Albanian explorer Andromas Gergij, who documented a few sworn

virgins in remote parts of Albania during the fifties and sixties in the 20th century. A

Norwegian explorer Bert Becker was on Kosovo, where Albanians live, to document this

phenomena and he concluded that Albanian society is one of the most patriarchal societies in

the world.4

RESPONSIBILITIES OF ‘’SWORN VIRGINS’’

Once a sworn virgin is of age to become the head of the household, s/he will assume the

important responsibilities of that position, which include:

monitoring and supervising the wealth and labour of the family

defending the family in blood-feuds (conflicts between rivalling families over

questions of honour)

receiving guests (hospitality is extremely important to Kanun followers)

As a man, the ’’sworn virgin’’ becomes the family's representative in the community.

Although some descriptions of sworn virgins refer to them as women who have had to

sacrifice their gender, I would say on contrary, it is not a sacrifice at all, but rather an avenue

of opportunity. It's an important position, and one treated with tremendous respect. As such,

through dress and demeanour a woman achieves social mobility, mobility that she would

otherwise be completely denied of. In Albania, a woman living as a man is a socially

acceptable, if not socially expedient, way of life. They do not consider it unusual, nor do they

perceive it as some kind of ''phenomenon'', it doesn’t challenge cultural norms, although in the

capital city of Tirana they deny that such a tradition still exists.5

EXAMPLES

4 Anonia Young, Larenda Twigg, '' Sworn virgins as enhancers of Albanian Patriarchal society in contrast to

emerging roles for Albanian women''Etnološka tribina,32,Vol. 39,2009 str.117-134.

5 http://www.jolique.com/gender/crossing_boundaries.htmuk/2/hi/europe/7682240.stm

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Now I will present a few examples of ‘’sworn virgins’’. The first will be Lula from

Albania. Lula says that she has been a sworn virgin as long as she can remember; she was the

10th child in family of 11, with eight daughters and twin sons of which one soon passed away.

The other son Pjeter was spoiled and unwilling to take responsibilities put onto him. As he

said, he always looked at Lulu as his older brother. After her parents died she decided to take

an oath as sworn virgin. This decision was easier because Lulu didn’t want to get married.

Although it was difficult at the beginning she got used to it and accepted all those manly

things, as driving a tractor, truck, chopping woods or planting, she even had her own business

working on a welding machine. She says that she loves being in control and has no regrets for

living life like this. Many of the basic rights women take for granted in other societies (the

right to choose a husband and to speak freely, for example) are not available to Kanun

women. So for Lulu and for many other women and men uncomfortable in the roles of their

biological sex, crossing gender boundaries paradoxically offers freedom.

Next is Peshke Keqi who became a sworn virgin in order to travel from her region of

Shalla Valle to the town of Skhodra where most of her relatives and friends live and where

her sick uncle was in a hospital. As a woman in Albania she wasn’t allowed to travel,

especially on her own. She took these trips twice a month and became well known throughout

this area. Once her uncle was released from the hospital he referred to her as his son. She

completely accepted her role, drinking, smoking with men on funerals and weddings. She

says that she didn’t have a choice; this was her destiny and she needs to live like this.6

IN POPULAR MEDIA

Although this phenomenon is not so widely spread and not so modern there was still

interest from explorers, newspapers and moviemakers eager to document this somewhat

interesting tradition. The subject of ‘’sworn virgins’’ was put on the big screen on several

occasions and the most popular movies include ‘’Sworn virgins’’ a film by Elvira Dones in

2008 which won the best documentary award on the Baltimore Woman’s film festival.7

Another one is a movie from director Srđan Karanović – his film Virdžina from 1991. We

also have numerous texts, like the one in the New York Times where Peshke Keqi from

6 Young,Twigg,Sworn virgins as enhancers of Albanian Patriarchal society in contrast to emerging roles for Albanian women''Etnološka tribina,32,Vol. 39,2009 str.117-134.

7 http://filmakers.com/index.php?a=filmDetail&filmID=1514

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Albania was interviewed.8 BBC had a 2008 feature in which they interviewed a sworn virgin

Qamile, calling this phenomenon fading Albanian folklore.9 National geographic filmed a

feature film about sworn virgins. This January Reuters presented photos and a short story of

these women.10 Also, the photographer Jill Peters made photos of these women, which made

this phenomenon widely acknowledged.

I will now refer to the movie by Srđan Karanović called Virdžina. It was filmed in 1991,

during the war in Yugoslavia. It is a story of a country girl which is raised as a son due to lack

of actual sons. It is set in Kniska krajina, in Croatia. The director was inspired by the story of

an Albanian girl which lived as a man for 25 years and fought in war near Trieste, then got

shot and released from the army.

The story is set at the beginning of 20th century and it centres on a girl who becomes a boy

named Stevan. It shows his life as an adolescent involved in typical village life. It is a love

story about freedom, about a choice to be what one wants to be. It also points out the theme of

sexuality, celebrating the form and art of the body (somaesthetics). It shows many rituals that

rely on gender differences, such as cutting hair and especially the moment when Stevan

receives a gun as symbol of manhood, which is juxtaposed with Stevan’s constant wish to

play with his sister’s doll. The movie ends with Stevan escaping to America with his friend

Mijat as her husband and her little sister, as well as their daughter break their own patriarchal

rules. The director successfully escapes political issues leaving even ethnical and religion

origins of the characters aside. To conclude, this film tried to reaffirm essential differences

between genders instead of speaking about a transvestite whose behaviour breaks specified

gender roles. This is seen at the very end where an act of running to America with his new

‘’husband’’ points to the acceptance of traditional gender roles.11

A DYING PHENOMENON

8 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/world/europe/23iht-virgins.4.13927949.html?pagewanted=all&_r=09 http://news.bbc.co.10 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/life-idUSRTR3CJPU

11 Kevin Moss, "From Sworn Virgins to Transvestite Prostitutes: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Two Films from Yugoslavia NY:,Haworth press, 2005,79-94 str.,

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For the last few years newspapers in Albania, Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia are

reporting that the phenomenon of sworn virgins is dying out. It is estimated that in Albania

they are still about 40 or 50 sworn virgins left and all are older than 50 years. In other parts of

the world there are maybe several hundreds of them but we can't say for sure. The 21st

century brought changes in notions regarding human rights, especially when women are

concerned. We also have a statement of ‘’sworn virgin’’ Pashe Keqi who says that she

probably wouldn’t do it today because even in Albania equality has become condition sine

qua non. Still, the situation is not so simple in Albania. When the communist regime fell and

a bad economic situation occurred it all affected this tradition. Because of the difficult

economic situation, social differences, revolved around women losing jobs in greater number

than men, forced women to stay at home while men were seeking jobs in the cities. Contrary

to the fact that young people often seek to live in towns away from home, the tradition of

multigenerational families living together is still very strong and still supports the ‘’sworn

virgins’’ phenomenon. Although this is a dying phenomenon because of the progression in

women's rights, some small towns haven’t fully transitioned into modernity yet. In some

villages, women still can’t drive or work and are expected to wear gender-specific attire.

Their families choose men for them to marry and it is culturally appropriate that they care for

their husbands and children. For many years, the only way to escape the rigid structures of

society was to choose not to live as a female.

CONCLUSION

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Although the phenomenon of sworn virgins is not modern or actual it speaks of

essential problems of gender, differences between men and women. In this paper I focused on

this tradition in north Albania because it is the only place where it still lives on. All kind of

factors lead this tradition to develop, from economic situations, migration processes and of

course the Kanun law, which defined gender differences between men and women. All these

aspects supported a strong patriarchy system as the main social law. Women always knew

“their place”, which was in the house, with children. They were subordinated for so long that

today in Albania women do not see this as unusual, it is a part of their culture, where men

where the only ones with rights in social life. For these and other reasons woman were forced,

in one way or the other, to become men. Forced by the patriarchal society, they resorted to

this as the only way of acquiring freedom and basic human rights. Most of these women

suffered their whole life being someone else just to be accepted in society. For me this subject

was interesting because it contrasts one gender with another, twists their roles, as a female is

forced to be man in order to become equal. Even though this tradition kept alive for centuries

no one should be forced to become someone they are not, and if they willingly choose to then

they aren’t forced in the first place. Today, in the 21st century, we are finally reaching an

acceptable level of equality between different gender roles and one should hope that this kind

of tradition, no matter how interesting or culturally valuable it may be, never occurs again.

BIBILIOGRAPHY:

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Young, Antonia. Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins. New York: Berg, 2000.

Anonia Young, Larenda Twigg, '' Sworn virgins as enhancers of Albanian Patriarchal society in contrast to emerging roles for Albanian women''Etnološka tribina,32,Vol. 39,2009 str.117-134.

Kevin Moss, "From Sworn Virgins to Transvestite Prostitutes: Performing Gender and Sexuality in Two Films from Yugoslavia," Sexulity and gender in postcommnunist Eastern Europe and Russia,NY:,Haworth press, 2005,79-94 str.,

http://www.natgeoeducationvideo.com/film/466/sworn-virgins

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2012/12/21/jill_peters_documenting_sworn_virgins_women_who_live_as_men_in_albania_photos.html

http://news.bbc.co. http://www.jolique.com/gender/crossing_boundaries.htmuk/2/hi/europe/

7682240.stm

http://filmakers.com/index.php?a=filmDetail&filmID=1514

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/world/europe/23iht-virgins.4.13927949.html?

pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/life-idUSRTR3CJPU

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