This paper aims to explain the interplay of structure and agency during the development of gender equality blueprint policies in Slovenia and Croatia. These countries are unique cases: originating from the most liberal communist regime with an autonomous feminist movement, they underwent democratic transition and European integration. However, they differ in gender equality policy solutions. It is argued that political opportunities created by democratization processes are the primary causes for these differences. Democratic transition is conceptualized as a type of ‘critical juncture’. Specifically, the hypothesis proposed is that when the transition process was impenetrable (for feminist agenda influence and movement access), it was the EU policy transfer that caused the formation of gender equality policies. For the purposes of testing this hypothesis and classification of different types/phases of transfer, modified policy transfer taxonomy is utilized as well as previous complementary research on the influence of feminist movements in aforementioned countries.
