Women in Albania…living as men – Their number is diminishing but a good handful of elderly women several in their late 70s still live on in northern Albania. These ‘sworn virgins’ each took a personal vow of celibacy in order to preserve their position as the head of household, maintaining the same level of control and power over their own households and communities as the next man. By taking the oath of virginity these women enjoy rights usually available only to men: the right to own a weapon, move about freely, even pray in the mosque alongside men.

Read this ‘International Herald Tribune’ article for a detailed article on the topic

Pashe Keqi recalls the day nearly sixty years ago when she decided to become a man. She chopped off her long black curls, traded in her dress for her father’s baggy trousers, armed herself with a hunting rifle and vowed to forsake marriage, children and sex.

Had she been born in Albania today, says the 78-year-old sworn virgin, who made an oath of celibacy in return for the right to live and rule her family as a man, she would choose womanhood. [Read More]