This is despite the arrival of democracy and the adoption of a free market economy in Albania, after the period under the communist Party of Labour.

[9] Prior to World War II, it was common for some Gheg Albanian women to become "live-in concubines" of men living in mountain areas.

[10] In the past, in family units that did not have patriarchs, unmarried Albanian women could take on the role of the male head of the family by "taking an oath of virginity", a role that would include the right to live like a man, to carry weapons, own property, be able to move freely, dress like men, acquire male names if they wish to do so, assert autonomy, avoid arranged marriages, and be in the company of men while being treated like a man.

On the other hand, Muslim Albanian women, particularly women from the Islamic Bektashi sect cook pudding known as the ashura from ingredients such as cracked wheat, sugar, dried fruit, crushed nuts, and cinnamon, after the 10th day of matem, a period of fasting.

In 1891, the first girls' high school was founded in Korçë by Sevasti Qiriazi and Parashqevi Qiriazi and in 1909 they founded the first women's organization in Albania, the Morning Star (Yll’i Mëngesit) with the purpose of raising the rights of women by raising their education level.

[13] However, in practice this progressive policy only concerned the cosmopolitan city elite, and had little effect in the lives of the majority of women in Albania.

[17][18] There is a religious revival among Albanians which in the case of Muslims sometimes means that women are pushed back to the traditional role of mother and housekeeper.

[25] During the government of Enver Hoxha, communist Albania had a natalist policy,[25] leading women to have illegal abortions or to induce them on their own.

Eventually the country had the second-highest maternal mortality rate in all of Europe, and it was estimated that 50% of all pregnancies ended in an abortion.

[26] As late as 1946, about 85% of the people were illiterate, principally because schools using the Albanian language had been practically non-existent in the country before it became independent in 1912.

[27] The communist regime gave high priority to education, which included the alphabetization of the population, but also the promotion of socialist ideology in schools.