Mainstreaming Gender at the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

OSCE Gender Champion Elmaja Bavcic

Elmaja Bavcic had to work hard to convince colleagues and partners that gender equality was worth the trouble and not just a “passing fad”. Her results speak for themselves and earned her the OSCE Gender Champion Award for 2022.

“The most difficult part is dealing with all the no’s,” says Elmaja Bavcic when asked what it took to turn around a team of over 300 people from general gender-blindness to a systematic integration of gender perspectives in its many programmes.

“Once you get over the frustration, you can get on with the business of making productive change,” she says.

Elmaja’s eyes were opened to the all-pervasiveness of discrimination against women– and society’s equally pervasive indifference to it - during her Master’s studies in Sarajevo. When she first got a job as National Project Officer on Gender with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, she had the same experience.

The power of persistence

“When I was introduced to people they would say: gender issues are a passing fad – you should look out for yourself and try to move into another field while you can,” she remembers.

“Seven years and two gender action plans later, there has been a complete change in this perception,” she notes. “My colleagues now acknowledge that gender equality is about democracy and diversity and that we all have commitments in this field.”

A large part of that change can be credited to Elmaja’s unwavering determination and hard work. “You need to be persistent, and in the end, it pays off. You may feel you are beating your head against a wall, but then, with the right approach, things suddenly move forward.”

Gender equality in the courtroom

One particular area where the situation has changed is trial monitoring, the core activity of the Mission’s Rule of Law Programme. The Programme supports the development of an independent justice system in Bosnia and Herzegovina that upholds human rights. The team currently monitors hundreds of proceedings throughout the country – at the local, entity and state levels – covering, amongst others, war crimes, organized crime, corruption, domestic violence, hate crimes, trafficking in human beings, electoral fraud, and terrorism.

“Our trial monitoring was not gender-sensitive at all,” Elmaja says. “We collected data on the gender of judges and the accused, but not of witnesses, which in some cases may be very revealing. For example, in corruption cases, while men are more likely to engage in certain corrupt practices, the witnesses are often women. Taking into account this factor could lead to an increased focus on other discriminating behaviour, or reveal additional criminal acts, such as sextortion.”

“Elmaja definitely recognized that we needed to do more in relation to gender,” says Rebecca Agule, Acting Head of the Rule of Law Section. “We set to work by going through each point of our trial monitoring database, checking if there was factual or demographic information that we needed to capture, such as the gender of prosecutors, judges, witnesses and victims.”   

Subversive bias

“We began trying to capture the less overt instances of gender bias in criminal proceedings. We are asking questions like who is in the court room; how are they being addressed; is the judge using a different tone of voice with the female prosecutor or using a diminutive with a female victim,” she says.

“We are also examining career progression within the judiciary through a gender lens. One of the things that really jumped out at me was that at the entry level there is a semblance of gender balance – there may even be more female judges than male – but when you get to the level of chief prosecutors or court presidents, the weight shifts significantly to one side,” she adds.

The Mission uses all this gender-specific information in their trial monitoring reports – most of which are public – and its advocacy work and capacity-building for legal professionals.

“We are still in the early stages of these efforts. But even though we still have work to do with the judiciary, I am already seeing an impact. In our conversations with counterparts such as prosecutors, when we mention our interest in gender equality, it triggers reflection on their part. Internally, since we began emphasizing the Mission’s commitment to gender issues, individual colleagues have flourished as they are given space and a green light to try to unpack these questions,” Rebecca says.

Acting strategically

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of OSCE’s biggest field operations, with a headquarters in Sarajevo and nine field offices. To get the ball rolling on gender awareness, it was necessary to act strategically.  Elmaja’s recipe for success is inspiring.

First, planning. Elmaja led the process of developing and implementing two gender action plans, one for 2017 to 2019 and the second for 2020 to 2022. In close discussion with colleagues, she worked to make them more operational, determining mid-term objectives and concrete indicators for each department.

Second, architecture. Elmaja led a process of establishing a network of gender liaisons in the Mission’s field offices. “Identifying committed colleagues as gender liaison persons empowered them to push for innovations,” Elmaja says.

Third training. Over the years, Elmaja delivered more than 30 training courses on gender mainstreaming to Mission staff and other partners.

Fourth, budget. “If we didn’t have the money, we wouldn’t have the leverage to get things done,” Elmaja stresses. She worked hard to get the integration of gender mainstreaming and gender equality project reinforced in the unified budget planning.

Fifth, institutional reform. “With management support we established a Gender and Youth Unit with dedicated funds. As head of the unit, I was able to integrate gender issues into youth activities,” says Elmaja.The Mission has made a name for itself in the country for its commitment to gender equality in the different fields of its work, from national and local policy development to combating gender-based violence.

New role, new challenges

Elmaja has now taken on a new role at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, as Gender Adviser, in charge of combating gender-based violence. One of her first tasks is to implement a set of minimum standards for gender-based violence work across all OSCE executive structures. This, too, will not be easy, and Elmaja is prepared to meet resistance once more. She is also prepared to listen, to learn – and certainly not to take no for an answer.