Mainstreaming gender in European Union development cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa: promising numbers, narrow contents, telling silences

Abstract

This article examines gender mainstreaming in European Union development cooperation with sub-Saharan African countries through quantitative and qualitative analyses of policy programming documents to evaluate whether a shift has been made from a conservative Women in Development paradigm to a transformative Gender and Development paradigm. First, a quantitative analysis assesses language, format and budgets. Next, a qualitative analysis embarks on a deeper reading of how gender (in)equality is framed and who has been given voice. We conclude that gender mainstreaming is only partly applied in a transformative way. The limited space for African civil society voices as well as the European Union's concerns about its global role and its internal legitimacy are suggested as explanations.