Limitations, Critiques and Ways Forward

This section interrogates whether gender mainstreaming remains a relevant and effective strategy for tackling contemporary gendered and intersecting inequalities. This section brings together a range of critical perspectives that examine how gender mainstreaming has evolved, where it falls short, and what might be needed to make it more ‘useful’ and transformative in the future. Across the contributions, authors use intersectional, decolonial, and feminist approaches to reflect on the concept’s weaknesses and strengths. In particular, Section 5 is structured around three interrelated thematic concerns: limitations, resilience, and potential. First, it exposes the conceptual and structural limitations of gender mainstreaming as it has developed since its adoption into policy frameworks in the 1990s – from its depoliticization to its inadequacies in accommodating intersectionality. Second, it addresses its resilience and adaptability in the face of democratic backsliding, rise of populism, authoritarianism, and anti-gender mobilisation. Third, it confronts the potential and future possibilities for gender mainstreaming, asking what kinds of epistemological, strategic, and institutional shifts are required for it to remain relevant. Authors contributing both chapters and spotlights in Section 5 engage with these three aspects in diverse ways and through different case-studies – from the UK and Hungary to Sweden, Iran and the Pacific. They do not merely critique gender mainstreaming as a failed or obsolete strategy. Rather, they invite a rethinking of its foundational premises and its embeddedness within neoliberal, colonial, and technocratic logics. They urge scholars and practitioners alike to consider whether gender mainstreaming can move from a symbolic or procedural exercise into a genuinely participatory, intersectional, and counter-hegemonic policy tool. Ultimately, Section 5 invites readers to question not only whether gender mainstreaming remains ‘useful’ - but for whom, under what conditions, and to what end. Bianka Vida (University of Surrey) has already confirmed her participation.