Few women in KSF uniform

In the Mitrovica Security Force's “barracks, 37 of them are women.

Among them is 22-year-old Skenderaj, Freedom Bayraktari.

She wore her uniform in 2019, when she also began transforming the KSF mission from civilian to military.

“Keeping the gun is a big responsibility and, despite being new to KSF, [it] has become a part of us even having our daily activities. Of course, it's a load, because we've very often got training that requires high preparation, both physical and psychic, tactical... And we have heavy-weight marches, we have weeks on the ground”, she says.

Freedom arose in 1999 in the year the last war in Kosovo ended.

He says that parents' confessions about this part of history inspired him to one day swear to serve the people and the Republic of Kosovo.

As an inspiration to become a soldier, it was the story that we went through... In one way or another, each of us has been affected by our last story. So I thought that perhaps the best way to serve the country is by being a member of the Kosovo Security Force”, she says.

Freedomjo, the new KSF soldier, says there is a lot of prejudice as to whether women are capable of being members of the army.

I think the KSF has given many examples of its members challenging these prejudices. I was very lucky to have had the full support and support of my family”, she says.

Efforts to increase women's percentage in KSF

Out of about 2,500 is the total number of KSF members, about 300 or 11 percent are women. Of them, with colonel degrees, lieutenant colonels, majors, and others.

Strategic Communication Chief in the Ministry of Defence Colonel Sefer Isufi tells Radio Free Europe that the conditions for admission into the KSF are not linked to gender, though he stresses some campaigns have been made to increase women's interest and application.

The concept of building the Kosovo Security Force is only based on performance, skills and professional skills that demonstrate an KSF member, regardless of whether he is a man or a woman, regardless of whether he is a boy or a girl”, says Isufi.

The Dragasch municipality has no woman in the KSF uniform.

Brikena Avdyli from the Jahjaga Foundation, promoting equal opportunities for all Kosovo citizens, shows that in October of this year they have organised an event with Dragas' daughters.

The girls could see that they could be locked in these professions, not necessarily sacrificing their individual lives. Police officers and women in the KSF have shown that they do all their jobs and continue to return home and care for the children, for the family. In the end [of the event], we asked whether girls in the hall would be interested in considering it a profession, and quite a few hands were raised”, says Avdyli.

Spat Balaj, from the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (QKSS), tells Radio Free Europe that the Ministry of Defence should work harder to increase the number of women in the KSF, and especially at leadership positions.

Currently, the highest rank a woman holds in the KSF is Brigadier General.

This range of defence in Kosovo is generally viewed as something that is exclusive to men, which is actually not in practice. Therefore, it is very necessary that through education, even through the wider involvement of women, this perception... and to take steps towards improving statistics in general, but also the strategic representation of women”, Balaj says.

In Serbia, 20 percent of army members are women; in Albania, 18 percent; in Montenegro, 14 percent. In Northern Macedonia alone, the percentage is lower than in Kosovo ʹ9 per cent. A higher percentage of women, Kosovo has it in its police. From 9,100