Abstract
International commitments together with local developments have made gender issues rise up the Albanian development agenda, and the security sector is expected to follow this trend. Mainstreaming gender through education is one approach that could be used in this sector as well as in other spheres.
Assessing the case of the Albanian police academy curriculum, this paper provides evidence of the extent to which gender is mainstreamed in security sector education programmes in Albania.
Looking at the content of and the language used in the police curriculum, this paper provides evidence that although steps have been taken to mainstream gender in security sector education programmes, gender issues remain peripheral, often isolated and the language used often reinforces gender stereotypes. The paper concludes by suggesting that more efforts be dedicated not only to making gender issues part of these programmes but also to mainstreaming them in the content and language used in order to produce a greater impact in the promotion of gender equality in the security sector.