Women Decision-Makers Empowered to Promote Gender Equality in Police

Twenty women decision-makers from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Police Directorate in Republic of Serbia attended a two-day workshop on “Gender Equality in Security Sector”

Twenty women decision-makers from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Police Directorate in Republic of Serbia attended a two-day workshop on "Gender Equality in Security Sector" held on 19-20th June 2012 in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia. This was the first in the series of three seminars, which UNDP/SEESAC and the Ministry of Interior of Republic of Serbia are jointly organizing as a part of the Women Police Officers Network in South East Europe (WPON) activities.

The aim of the workshops is to raise gender awareness, enable relevant information exchange and networking among the members of the MoI. The first workshop introduced the importance of gender equality for security sector, discussed gender based discrimination, strategies and mechanisms for gender equality in Serbia, techniques for women's empowerment and the position of women in the security sector. Activities and subsequent results of the Women Police Officers Network in SEE were presented as examples of successful networking practice of police women from the region.

For most of the participants, this was the first time to attend a course on gender equality. They expressed great interest in the topic as well as interest in becoming involved in the work of WPON, in particular in the implementation of "Guidelines for Gender Sensitive Policing Practice." The Guidelines were recently developed by WPON and they provide a set of low cost measures to enable better recruitment, selection and professional development of police women.