Gender Mainstreaming in the EU Development Cooperation

The essay examines and scrutinizes the adoption and implementation of Gender
Mainstreaming in the development cooperation of the European Union (EU). It reviews the theoretical concept of Gender Mainstreaming linked to feminist theory in order to reflect upon the adaptation of Gender Mainstreaming within the EU. Herefrom seven criterias are deduced in order to analyse the adoption and implementation of Gender Mainstreaming in the EU development cooperation. Key issues are the political willigness of the EU towards gender equality, gender training of staff, internal assessment and evaluation, the two sidedness of Gender Mainstreaming, the representation of women in decision-making, gender analyses of the social contexts and the actual impact of Gender Mainstreaming. Concluding the essay identifies a key problem in the transfer of a gender
perspective in policies into practice and therefore into actual transformation of structures and gender hierarchies.