Milica Borjanic is a vocal advocate for youth rights in Serbia and programme manager with The National Youth Council of Serbia (KOMS), as the highest independent representative body of the youth in Serbia. Last year, she was one of the participants of the UN Women's training for trainers on women's political participation and leadership.

As Serbia gears up for the upcoming elections, the visibility of female candidates is not as strong as in the previous 2020 campaign, as representation in the Serbian Assembly has only slightly increased over the past decade, according to the Academy in Women’s Leadership.

The rape of Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman was one of thousands during Kosovo's 1990s war, but she is still the only victim to have spoken out publicly and now is pushing for a radical shake-up of a society long dominated by men.

Krasniqi-Goodman was part of a record intake of women MPs elected to Kosovo's parliament earlier this year, propelled to power on a wave of anger over domestic violence, lack of economic opportunities and ingrained prejudices.

Serbia’s proposed new-look government is among the world’s most gender balanced, with women named to half of ministerial posts.

The lineup, announced Sunday, propels the Balkan country to the brink of the global top 10 for gender equality -- an issue that has typically been higher on the agenda of western European countries. Still, critics say that even with the appointments, President Aleksandar Vucic will call all the shots and women remain under-represented in local politics.

Serbia was already something of an outlier.

The Serbian Parliament has announced an amendment to its electoral laws with a new minimum quota of 40 per cent of candidates on electoral lists for parliamentary and local elections from the less-represented gender.

Serbian lawmakers elected Ana Brnabic as prime minister on Thursday, making history by choosing both the conservative Balkan nation's first female prime minister and its first openly gay leader.