The impact of international peace building on gender roles in Kosovo

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine how and to which degree the United Nations, as the main actor in post-conflict Kosovo, was able to gender mainstream the reconstruction and to enhance gender equality in line with a number of its own standards. Many of the gender mechanisms in the UNMIK were based on an approach of structural or static solutions to a problem of dynamics and policy, e.g. specialised gender focal points and gender units. However, what appeared to be a gender sensitive approach often had the consequence of marginalising women into "special programs" outside of "standard" programs.