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Gender mainstreaming on the ground? The case of EU development aid towards Rwanda

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  • Debusscher, Petra

Abstract

This article investigates why gender mainstreaming has not occurred in European Union (EU) development aid towards Rwanda despite a two-sided receptiveness from Rwanda and the EU’s Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation. I use a feminist institutionalist approach to examine formal and informal institutions as well as the actors, networks and processes involved in policy formation and implementation. I argue that the largest stumbling block to effective implementation is an institutional weakness at the EU level which involves a decoupling of formal and informal institutions and leads to the ‘ceremonial’ behaviour of gender policy actors and a limited, instrumental policy guided by gendered assumptions. These reproduce further stereotypes and contribute to an asymmetrical power play within the institutions. This can disadvantage women and staff working on gender equality. Finally, the EU’s institutional practices structurally marginalize the voices of Rwandan women and their movement which is problematic in the context of an increasingly authoritarian state.

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  • Debusscher, Petra, 2014. "Gender mainstreaming on the ground? The case of EU development aid towards Rwanda," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:erp:eiopxx:p0247
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anouka Eerdewijk & Tine Davids & Nathalie Holvoet & Liesbeth Inberg, 2014. "Gender Mainstreaming In The Context Of Changing Aid Modalities: Insights From Two Paris Declaration Champions," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 317-331, April.
    2. Petra Debusscher & An Ansoms, 2013. "Gender Equality Policies in Rwanda: Public Relations or Real Transformations?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 44(5), pages 1111-1134, September.
    3. An Ansoms & Donatella Rostagno, 2012. "Rwanda's Vision 2020 halfway through: what the eye does not see," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(133), pages 427-450, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Allwood, Gill, 2014. "Gender mainstreaming and EU climate change policy," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 18, November.
    2. Annica Kronsell, 2016. "The Power of EU Masculinities: A Feminist Contribution to European Integration Theory," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 104-120, January.
    3. Weiner, Elaine and Heather MacRae, 2014. "The persistent invisibility of gender in EU policy: Introduction," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 18, November.
    4. Petra Debusscher, 2020. "Budget Support Through a Gender Lens: The Case of EU Development Cooperation with Botswana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 718-737, July.

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