In the remote mountains of northern Albania are villages where there are women who live and act like men.
They have short hair, wear baggy pants, and have a male name.
But they are not transsexuals or cross-dressers.
They are called sworn virgins orburrnesha.
However, such a privilege comes at a cost.
They cannot vote, hold certain kinds of jobs, buy land or enter many establishments.
It still governs the region.
TheKanundictates that women are the property of their husbands.
Marriages should be arranged and fixed at birth or in early childhood.
Taking care of her husband and children, and maintaining her home then becomes her only duty.
The first sworn virgin was born out of social necessity.
Over the years, women became sworn virgins for different reasons.
Some swore to avoid an arranged marriage without disgracing the family of the selected groom.
Others swore to express their defiance and desire for independence.
“It was about surviving in a world where men rule.”
It is estimated there are only about a hundred or fewer such women left.
As modernity slowly creeps into Albania’s remote rural regions, this tradition is going to die out.
