Can universities in the Balkans become a fortress for gender justice?

But, something extraordinary, perhaps even radical, has taken shape over the past four years. What began as an ambitious experiment—a network of 19 universities working together to confront gender injustice within their own institutions—has evolved into one of the most comprehensive regional initiatives in decades. UNIGEM (Universities and Gender Mainstreaming), coordinated by the Sarajevo-based TPO Foundation in collaboration with universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro between 2021 and 2025, is not just a project but a rupture, a break in the old academic order that once treated gender studies as an intellectual curiosity rather than an urgent battlefield.

Universities in the Balkans: Spaces of silence or catalysts for change?

For too long, universities in the Western Balkans have been places of contradiction—ostensibly bastions of critical thinking, yet often fortresses of social conservatism. The same lecture halls that should have fostered progressive thought have too often been spaces where sexism thrives under the guise of humor, where institutional inertia allows harassment to go unchallenged, and where decision-making remains a male-dominated domain.

For the first time, a coalition of Bosnian feminists and gender studies scholars has compelled academic institutions to confront their own complicity in sustaining these injustices. Over four years, Gender Action Plans (GAPs) have been adopted, gender-sensitive curricula integrated, and vital gender resource centers established—most notably in Sarajevo. In addition, collaboration with faculties of kinesiology has led to the successful integration of gender equality discussions in sports education through lectures and workshops, marking a significant step towards embedding gender justice in traditionally male-dominated fields.

But the real question lingers: Is this a lasting transformation, or will it fade under the weight of institutional indifference?

The backlash: Manufactured crises and the war on gender

Every movement that challenges power usually faces resistance, and UNIGEM has emerged precisely at a time when anti-gender movements in the Balkans are becoming more aggressive, more politically coordinated, and more deeply embedded in public discourse.

From populist politicians railing against “Western gender ideology” to university professors dismissing feminism as ideological extremism, the backlash against gender justice is not an unintended consequence of UNIGEM’s work—it is the evidence of its necessity.

These reactionary forces are experts in manufacturing crises. They claim gender studies is “ideological indoctrination” while conveniently ignoring the fact that universities have, for centuries, been ideological strongholds of patriarchy. They accuse feminists of eroding tradition, as though tradition has ever been a sanctuary for those it has historically excluded.

But UNIGEM has not merely resisted this tide—it has fundamentally reshaped the conversation. It has forced universities to take a position: They will either be institutions that actively uphold gender justice, or they will become institutions that, through silence, tacitly endorse discrimination. The illusion of neutrality has been shattered.

The real test: Will universities take ownership of this fight?

After four years of tireless work, UNIGEM has created something rare—a regional network of academics who are not just theorizing about justice but embedding it into institutional practice. However, as the cycle of external funding is nearing its end, the critical question arises: Do universities understand that gender justice is not a luxury, not a temporary project, but a fundamental structural necessity?

The Gender Resource Center in Sarajevo stands as a symbol of this dilemma. It has become an essential hub for education, policy advocacy, and research, yet its future remains uncertain. Will the universities and state institutions recognize its value and commit to sustaining it, or will they allow the infrastructure that UNIGEM has built to gradually erode? The easy answer is that “alternative funding sources” must be found. But, the painful truth is this: if universities themselves do not take responsibility for continuing this work, the region will slip back into familiar patterns of passive acknowledgment and institutional neglect.

A moment of reckoning: The future of gender justice in the Balkans

It would be a mistake to view UNIGEM purely as a policy initiative. It is, in essence, a cultural intervention. It is a direct challenge to how knowledge is produced, shared, and preserved in the Balkans. It is a statement that gender justice is not a peripheral concern, but a fundamental measure of a university’s ethical and academic credibility.

The seeds have been planted. The real test is whether those who wield power within universities will nurture them—or let them wither under the convenient excuse that gender justice is someone else’s responsibility.

Because this is the uncomfortable truth: Institutions do not change because they want to. They change because they are forced to.

Recently, UNIGEM, financially supported by the UK Government, marked the end of its first phase in Sarajevo, with the celebration of the program achievements. But a celebration is not enough. Will there be enough wisdom within the system to recognize the resources, the capacities, and the fundamental importance of sustaining the established network?

Or will it all—despite the momentum, the successes, the urgent need—be abandoned, left to wither in the shadows of institutional complacency?