POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION AND GENDER EQUALITY IN KOSOVO

This thesis explores the gendered dimensions of post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo, with a focus on how institutional frameworks, policies, and international interventions have addressed—or failed to address—gender equality since the 1999 conflict. While the reconstruction process was framed as a pathway toward democratization and stability, the integration of gender perspectives has been uneven and often symbolic. By analyzing the roles of international organizations, local institutions, and civil society, this study highlights the gaps between normative commitments to gender mainstreaming and the lived realities of women in post-conflict Kosovo. Through a mixed-methods approach combining policy analysis, case studies, and qualitative data, the research interrogates the ways in which gender equality was negotiated within transitional justice mechanisms, constitutional reforms, and socio-economic reconstruction. The findings reveal persistent structural barriers that have limited women’s participation in decision-making and peacebuilding, while also recognizing the transformative agency of grassroots women’s organizations in reshaping post-war governance. Ultimately, this thesis argues that post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo has been marked by both progress and contradiction: while institutional reforms created formal spaces for gender inclusion, patriarchal power structures and international dependencies constrained their effectiveness. The study underscores the necessity of centering gender not as an add-on, but as a foundational principle of reconstruction, if sustainable peace and genuine equality are to be realized.