Albanian policewomen.

When the Albanian police and the American program for criminal investigation, ICITAP, opened a call to train policewomen to lead criminal operations in Albania a year ago, only 16 out of the 84 who were invited to apply showed interest.

In the first months of 2015, during the first consultations, it was made clear that women who started the training should be prepared to work without fixed hours and take responsibility for big operations in the field. Eight of the others then also withdrew.

Training started in April with just eight women and on Thursday only five of them took their certificates, opening a new chapter in their professional lives.

These five in the next month will leave their old positions and start to run police stations and crime sectors – the first women in Albania trained to do so.

Lindita Nushi, who has been a member of the Albanian police for 18 years and is a specialist in tracking down fugitives from justice, is one of the five who was awarded a certificate.

She told BIRN that she always wanted to return to the field, and to have the possibility of doing so in a leadership position was a golden opportunity.

“Before I took the decision, I gathered my family to ask them if they were going to support me in this initiative. The first who said ‘yes’ was my husband, and this was the moment when I fell in love with him for the second time,” she said.

Chief Commissioner Nushi is the mother of two small girls and joined the police in 1997, a difficult year, when Albania was being torn apart by a civil uprising and much of the territory was controlled by armed groups.

“I was near death many times at the start of my career when I held dead bodies in my hands and guns were pointed in my chest,” she said.

But she still is anxious about preparing to take up a leading operational position in a land where gender is still seen as playing a role.

“We are the first women to take these roles and it will be a big responsibility. I think if I do a good job I will pave the way and encourage my women colleagues – but if I fail it will be considered a gender problem,” she added.

Her colleague, Chief Commissioner Anila Popa, is another of the women who has been trained to lead operations in the field.

She told BIRN that her “warrior soul” and a belief that Albanian women should size a bigger role in the public sphere had been a big push in pursuing a career in the police.

“I and my family have made big sacrifices for my career. I raised two sons while working as a police officer and attending security studies simultaneously,” she said.

After taking a degree in literature, Popa got a diploma from the Police Academy and has a Masters in security issues, after studying for two years in France.

She believes that it is easier for men than women to pursue a career in the police in Albania.

“We still see women as unsuitable for these kinds of roles in our society, and I see it as my duty to show that we can do more,” she emphasized.

The police have never been a comfortable place for career women in Albania. Two years ago, the number of women in the police was only around 500 out of 11,000.

Now, as a result of programs undertaken to reduce the gender gap and give the police force a softer image, the number of policewomen has doubled to 1,100.

To raise the number of policewomen, positive discrimination quotas are being implemented in the Police Academy and different programs are being tailored to help women rise faster up the career ladder.