Finding a Foothold: The Ecology of Gender Mainstreaming in a Large Organisation
This paper analyses the experience of developing a gender mainstreaming strategy for a multilateral development agency, the UNDP. Gender mainstreaming is central to the global mandate of this organisation. A core gender strategy has been developed centrally and passed down to country offices in the form of policy directives. The paper examines the extent to which this stated ideological commitment to gender equity has been successful in creating spaces for renegotiation of gender relations within the organisation, and the colonisation of these spaces by advocates for gender issues. Creating a conscious, committed and skilled group of internal gender pioneers, while simultaneously working to make the environment more hospitable to their ideas and activities are the central focus of the gender mainstreaming strategy. This group has to evolve strategies to take forward the stated commitment to gender mainstreaming, and counter the invisible resistance stemming from the gendered structures and traditions of the organisation.
