This paper will look at the progressive development of gender mainstreaming as a strategy to achieve gender equality in the EU and the role played by insiders to implement and/or instrumentalise this new concept. From its first mention in the third European community action programme for equal opportunities between women and men, in the mid nineties, to its inscription in the Treaty of Amsterdam and then in successive treaties, gender mainstreaming was made into a major and much debated policy tool initially by civil servants committed to equality. In parallel, from the outset, bureaucracies seized it as an opportunity to dilute the focus on gender and cut resources, transforming its development in a permanent power struggle. The authors will analyse the some of the power games which took place around this concept from their own experience in the European Commission and at national level and draw conclusions on the ambiguous effects of gender mainstreaming as an effective strategy to promote gender equality.
