In the midst of the hot Central European summer, GLOBSEC’s CEE Her Workshop hosted its fifth edition in Vienna, Austria. This time, our focus was on the Western Balkans. From July 7-9, we welcomed a group of eight talented young women professionals from the region to the Austrian capital. Throughout the event, we engaged in dynamic, multi-angle discussions, growth sessions, and meetings with inspiring women leaders.
The workshop kicked off on Sunday afternoon with an introductory dinner for the participants and the organizers’ team. The participants represented various areas, from the NGO sector to law and banking, and were all passionate about diplomacy, citizen engagement, and women’s empowerment in the context of the Western Balkans region.
On Monday, the main part of the program started at the premises of the European Forum Alpbach with two powerful fireside talks featuring inspiring women speakers. The first discussion, moderated by Katarína Schachtschneider, featured Sanam Shantyaei. She currently serves as a Public Information Officer at the CTBTO in Vienna and has almost 20 years of experience in journalism. As a foreign correspondent, Sanam hosted the flagship television show “Middle East Matters.” Her passion for telling people’s stories remains strong today, and we felt it throughout her entire talk. “To be a drop in the ocean which hopefully one day makes a difference” is how she describes her vision. Women empowerment and mentorship remain among her passions today. Sanam emphasized the importance of building one’s community and finding a mentor at any point in one’s career. We also touched upon a female perspective on journalism, censorship and freedom of speech, the use of AI, and other topics.
For the second fireside discussion, moderated by Malwina Talik, we were joined by Sintija Oskalne, Confidence and Security Building Measures Officer at OSCE. Sintija is engaged in the implementation of politico-military commitments in arms control and non-proliferation. While working in a clearly male-dominated field, Sintija does not focus on gender or minority labels but rather emphasizes one’s own capacity, expertise, and simply “being yourself.” She believes that gender perception is part of the mentality and takes its roots within one’s family from an early age. At OSCE, Sintija contributes to gender equality by leading the OSCE-UNODA Scholarship for Peace and Security for women and youth. The training boosts their careers, networking, and further education opportunities, and overall contributes to increasing women’s representation in male-dominated areas.
From the European Forum Alpbach office, we moved to our third meeting at the Federal Chancellery of Austria, where Karoline Edtstadler, Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, warmly welcomed us. During the meeting, the Minister emphasized the importance of women supporting each other, as well as the encouragement of strong male figures. As Minister Edtstadler remarked, “It is not as important to be the first female in a leading position but rather to ensure that the female leader does not become the last in that position.” She mentioned that the Western Balkan countries are on a good track towards EU accession. However, more initiatives, such as CEPA and Erasmus+ programs, are needed to enhance the participation of these countries at the EU level. Edtstadler also pointed out that young female experts from the Western Balkans represent the next generation and have great responsibility for the future course of their own countries.
The afternoon program continued with an internal brainstorming session among the workshop participants. The young women experts discussed their views, challenges, and future hopes for the Western Balkan region, particularly in connection with the ongoing process of EU accession. They focused primarily on the areas of education, political, and social engagement. It was agreed that students often feel excluded and demotivated, with a lack of political interest and critical thinking. Overall, the region faces major challenges such as corruption, polarization, societal discrepancies between urban and rural areas, minimal women’s participation in society and politics, and brain drain.
During the session, the female experts provided constructive solutions for improving the region: the need for governments to provide long-term solutions for rural areas, comprehensive approaches to building trust in institutions, an emphasis on bottom-up engagement, recognizing young talents, eliminating corruption, and reforming the education system to change mindsets from an early age. Focusing on EU integration, the Western Balkan region needs to undergo structural reforms, which are key to EU accession. There is a need for better promotion and awareness of the EU’s benefits, as well as more support for the Balkans from the EU.
Our packed program for the day concluded with an intimate dinner discussion with Ursula Plassnik, Former Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria. Minister Plassnik shared her incredible story of a woman leader building a career in a male-dominated field, along with the opportunities that came along, skills she had to pick up, and challenges she had to face. She also offered inspirational and very practical advice for young female professionals taking on the tough role of a leader. Minister Plassnik emphasized that hard work is key to success, and failure is normal. “Perfection is the devil. Try and fail, then fail better. If you want something, you are capable of achieving it,” she said. We also agreed on the fact that not every woman has to be a leader – and that is also okay. We should not, however, fall into the segregation trap by staying in the “female corner.” We should erase the boundaries of labels and appear at the same level. Participants remained deeply impressed by the discussion and took home a portion of motivation in both professional and personal aspects.
On our last day, we engaged in a full-day workshop with the Academy of Critical Thinking. During the workshop, the participants picked up theoretical materials and participated in practical exercises on various topics: mental resilience and critical thinking, how to face disinformation and manipulation, how to work with different types of personalities and be successful, and so much more. The participants learned practices that will serve them in their professional journey.
