I have had the same problem(?), with GTK and Qt. The reason for this behavior is the theme the computer is using - it may not have alternate colors for rows, even if you request it. This is the case at least with Linux Mint I use, no program has alternating row colors in their list boxes.
So, basically, you should do nothing, as it is generally good to obey user's settings. If you want them visible, you should change your personal desktop settings.