Approximately 37,000 people in Kosovo receive veterans’ benefits in recognition of their service during the 1998/99 Kosovo war. Just over 3,600 of these veterans are women.
One of them is Albina Haradinaj, a 42-year-old former soldier from Gjakova.
Although her veteran status ensures her official recognition and benefits such as free healthcare for herself and her immediate family, public acknowledgment of her contribution during the war remains almost non-existent.
Young people got involved
Haradinaj was 17 and a student when she got involved in the Kosovo war, which was fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UCK). At the time, Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia.
Born and raised in Gjakova in Kosovo, she and others of her generation felt compelled to do something when the war began.
“Almost all of us young people at the time mobilized, and most ended up in the war. It was that collective energy — you knew you had no other choice; everyone had to make their contribution in their own way,” she told DW.
Male veterans treated differently
During the conflict, she met the man who would become her husband. Both have official veteran status, but when it comes to recognition — from both government institutions and the public — their experiences differ greatly.
“They often give certificates of appreciation, especially on March 8 [International Women’s Day], to teachers or police officers, but I’ve never heard of one going to women war veterans,” Haradinaj told DW.
“On television, all the space is given to men,” she continued. “We were there with them — with Shkelzen Haradinaj, a great hero — I was there, too. But society doesn’t value my contribution the same way it values my husband’s. It’s discrimination.”
She points out that this treatment contrasts sharply with the way the genders were treated during the war.
“How is it possible,” she asks, “that when we were at war, we had the same duties?”
Women occupied a wide variety of roles
According to the Kosovo Ministry of Defense, women worked in various roles within the KLA both on the battlefield and off, including in military engagement, logistics, intelligence, medical support and carrying out other duties of strategic and operational importance.
Nerxhivane Azizi was 23 when she began serving as both a military nurse and a photojournalist. After joining the KLA, helping the wounded, assisting in births and documenting war crimes became her new normal.
But even after the war ended, the weight of those memories — compounded by institutional neglect — made it hard for her to move forward.
“I don’t know why this happens in institutions, but they have always tried to discriminate against us,” Azizi told DW. “It’s been 26 years since the war, and they still can’t seem to understand us properly — to understand that we did our work with great sincerity, with great courage, and that we were the ones who came out uncorrupted.”
Psychological scars left by the war
Of all the things she witnessed, it is the memory of the massacre in the village of Recak that will never leave her.
In January 1999, 45 unarmed Albanian villagers in Recak were killed by Serbian forces from Yugoslavia. Among them were 14-year-old Halim Beqiri and 99-year-old Avdyl Sejdiu.
Before the massacre, Azizi had mostly photographed burned-out houses. That day, she decided to document everything and everyone she saw, despite the dangers involved, as she was still within the firing range of Serbian troops.
“I remember telling myself: ‘I absolutely have to.’ No one told me to take those photos. It was an inner voice saying: ‘They must be seen by everyone.’ So, I photographed each one individually,” she says.
‘A reality that is hidden’
In addition to the psychological scars left by the war, life for Kosovo’s women veterans remained tough even after hostilities ended. With no institutional support, Azizi says she was left to rebuild her life from scratch on her own.
“We are the women veterans who bought our apartments with bank loans, working through our own sweat to create a home, to put a roof over our heads,” she said.
And the inequality extends to the next generation. Azizi also notices a difference between her post-war experience and those of some male veterans.
“What advantages do their children have compared to mine? They have increased their privileges and gotten wealthy, while we have, in a way, been diminished — we have remained poor,” says Azizi, adding “It’s a reality that is hidden.”
According to a 2024 UN Women study, women in Kosovo face a greater risk of poverty than men, with economic inequality linked to unpaid care responsibilities, labor market discrimination and lack of property ownership.
Ministry aims to ensure ‘women’s voices are heard’
Miradie Kelmendi, a woman veteran from Peja, who joined the KLA and worked in a variety of fields including cooking, laundry and transportation, is disappointed with how the current government is treating those women who were involved in and affected by the war.
“I’m not satisfied at all — especially when it comes to the families of the disappeared, war invalids, veterans, mothers and sisters across Kosovo who were raped. Not at all. To ignore us in this day and age, I don’t know…” Kelmendi told DW.
In a written statement, the Ministry of Defense of Kosovo told DW that representatives of women veterans’ organizations have been involved in discussions and consultations on the drafting of strategic documents and policies relating to veteran issues.
“The Ministry has consistently promoted gender inclusion and aimed to ensure that women’s voices are heard in these processes,” it wrote.
Held back by patriarchal mentality
Kosovo’s Law on Gender Equality establishes the legal framework for ensuring equality and institutional support for women, yet in practice, the actions of government institutions often fall short of these commitments.
Gazmend Syla, deputy chairman of the War Veterans Organization, believes that women veterans face stigma mainly due to a prevailing patriarchal mentality in Kosovo that discourages or prevents women veterans from participating in public life or holding decision-making positions.
After the war, many of these women married. In rural areas in particular, husbands often do not allow their wives to attend veterans’ events. Syla considers this an injustice.
“The mentality here has led to women being excluded from post-war life,” he told DW. “If women were not involved in post-war initiatives — which were almost entirely led by men — they were, in effect, ‘forgotten’ by society.”
Impact on women veteran’s lives
According to a 2023 study by researchers from the University Haxhi Zeka in Kosovo and the University of Malta, women in Kosovo face significant socio-economic challenges rooted in traditional gender norms, limited institutional support, economic inequality and social stigmatization, which hinder their participation in public life and access to rights and resources.
Sociologist Genc Xerxa, believes that this neglect will greatly impact these women’s social self-esteem and harm their mental health as they feel excluded as a result of the fact that their contributions are being overlooked.
“Knowing that we still live in a patriarchal cultural context where men dominate, we have yet to achieve true social emancipation and recognition that reflects real values,” he told DW. “When you add rural mentality and low social awareness about self-esteem — given that most women veterans come from those areas — this mindset makes social recognition difficult, burdened by shame and masculine dominance.”
Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan
