Opening doors: Bosnia's trailblazing female brigadier

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The remarkable wartime career of Bosnia’s highest-ranking female army officer has "opened the door" to women wanting the military life in the Balkan country.

Fifty-one-year-old Brigadier Mersida Mesetovic is one of the six percent of women who serve in the country’s 16,000-strong armed forces.

A veteran of the bitter 1992-1995 Bosnian War, Mesetovic -- who earned the rank of brigadier in 2011 -- spoke to The Anadolu Agency about her exceptional life and career, which has spanned the Yugoslav era up to the present day.

Today, many modern armies encourage women to take an active role in peacekeeping missions in conflict zones around the world, in stark contrast to 30 years ago when women were not even part of an active-duty force.

Now an senior official in Bosnia’s defense ministry, Mesetovic's career started before the country's army even existed.

Having studied "People's Defense" at the Faculty of Political Sciences in the former Yugoslav capital of Belgrade in 1987, Mesetovic was barred from front-line army duty simply because of her gender.

At that time Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which had a unitary "Yugoslav People's Army."

"At that time it was the only faculty which allowed women to become part of the defense system as reserve officers. Women did not take part in active duty in the former Yugoslav People's Army. After completing studies and military training, which was an integral part of the studies, females received the rank of reserve officer," Mesetovic tells AA.

Since beginning her career 30 years ago, Mesetovic -- now a married mother-of-two -- became one of only two female brigadiers in Bosnia’s armed forces, only a single rank below that of colonel.

When Yugoslavia collapsed and war broke out in Bosnia in 1992, the national army dissolved and Mesetovic joined the newly-formed Bosnian army.

It was with this force where she finally became a battle-hardened soldier, fighting on the front lines throughout the whole three-year war.

After the warring parties signed the Dayton agreement to end the conflict in 1995, Bosnia was divided into two entities. Mesetovic took an active role in forming the new BiH Federation entity’s army which was later integrated into today’s Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mesetovic says that the discipline necessary in her profession became part of her private life.

"Training influences. When you spend eight hours at work, where you must be fully organized, where you must stay longer or come earlier, you simply must organize your life in a way which allows you to give everything to your private and professional life," she says.

Women’s efforts during the war

Talking about the balance between men and women in the Bosnian army, Mesetovic says that, as in every other profession, there is antagonism between the two genders but that -- through wartime experience -- men grew accustomed to working with women "eventually."

"My generation [of women] which currently takes part in the Armed Forces spent time with men in the war. Our male colleagues got used to us," she says.

After spending years together on the front lines, men adapted to the idea of female soldiers and today "there is no difference" in the army between them.

Women' efforts during the war in Bosnia opened the door to a younger generation of girls who are becoming a part of today's army, Mesetovic thinks.

"In every new generation there is certain percentage of female colleagues. By struggling to be part of the system, to do our job professionally, to prove that we can do it well, we have opened the way for new generations of girls.

"Now it is a generally accepted fact that men and women serve jointly in our mission," she says.

Greater expectations

Mesetovic thinks females have to offer more if they want to progress in this profession.

"If you want to be successful certainly you have to make much more efforts than your [male] colleagues do. You have to struggle for your place, which is definitely exhausting. And you have to find a way to organize yourself in order to be in top shape," she says.

If women want others to look at them solely according to how professional they are then they must impose it, she believes.

"That's what we are looking for. To be recognized by the work we do and the quality of performing it," she says, adding: "Work demands nothing more than professionalism."

Today women in the Bosnian army can earn every rank except the highest -- that of brigadier-general.

Mesetovic's career peaked as one of the highest-ranking female in the army today but, in accordance with military law she will retire at the age of 55.