The aim of this paper is to comparatively explain and evaluate gender policy change in countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and to understand factors explaining policy success and failure, where success is defined in terms of gender equal transformation, through process, outcome and long term sustainability. While a large majority of the gender policy changes in the region have emerged in the context of international, often European influence, the translation of international norms, their implementation and sustainability was importantly influenced by domestically varying factors. The resulting gender equality policy regimes exhibit remarkable differences and point towards a need for explanation. The paper proposes to discuss the explanatory power of four sets of factors in understanding gendered policy outcomes in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. These factors are: political and discursive opportunity structures, women’s movement mobilization, relationship between state and feminist civil society, and international incentives. Empirical material for understanding the importance and variation of these factors will be taken from two comparative case studies conducted in different countries of the region. These case studies are interesting because they illustrate two very distinct processes of change in the region, both of which have brought important challenges to gender policy in terms of de-gendering. First, the paper will look at the case of domestic violence policy changes during the last decade, second, it will look at equality institutionalization processes taking place in the framework of anti-discrimination policy development around the EU accession period (2001-2008). The paper will work towards proposing an explanatory model for gender policy changes in Central and Eastern Europe.
