Gender and security will take centre stage at a conference hosted by the OSCE Mission to Skopje and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Skopje on 7 and 8 March. The conference brings together law enforcement agencies from the region to exchange experiences and best practices in achieving gender equality within law enforcement.
"North Macedonia has introduced a very successful Gender Mentoring Programme with our support," said Ambassador Kilian Wahl, Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje. "Since 2018, this programme has led to an 18% increase in women in senior management positions in the police force. We strongly believe this success should be replicated elsewhere."
"Several studies show that women play an important role in building a stable and democratic society. With greater involvement of women in the police force at all levels, the functioning of the institution as a whole will improve. In this manner, internal cohesion and the security institutions' capacity is strengthened," said President Stevo Pendarovski while addressing the conference.
"Fortunately, we're not starting from scratch. The OSCE Mission to Skopje provides support through the Gender Mentoring Programme, which is already yielding results and brings changes to the institutional culture of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But this program should not be just a one-time activity, but part of the standard institutional training in the Ministry," he added.
In his address, Minister of Internal Affairs Panche Toshkovski welcomed the efforts of the OSCE Mission to raise public awareness about the gap that "still exists between men and women in the security professions, and the commitments undertaken to overcome this problem."
"The struggle to empower female police officers continues. Our colleagues lead that fight precisely through continuous development and improvement of their knowledge in order to make women in the police force more visible, and in particular through the OSCE Mission-supported Gender Mentoring Programme," said Minister Toshkovski. "The programme has trained more than 150 police officers in various professional skills, thereby raising awareness for the issue of gender diversity in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and of the equal involvement of women in the police service."
The Director of OSCE/ODIHR, Matteo Mecacci, said that the security sector can only respond to diverse security needs of societies when it ensures gender equality within its own institutions through an inclusive working environment in which diversity is welcome.
"Law enforcement institutions must strive to become gender equality employers and this means fostering diversity in the workforce and making sure that all staff, regardless of their gender, enjoy the same opportunities and benefits, and are meaningfully included in the work of the institutions themselves. However, despite the growing number of female officers, present in public security institutions, women remain vastly underrepresented in this sector, in particular at the senior level," said Mecacci.
The participants, including representatives from North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo, demonstrated a strong commitment to continuing the progress toward gender equality in law enforcement, recognizing the importance of collaboration, training, and institutional support.
