Chapter 2

In their chapter Mainstreaming Gender in International Organizations Elisabeth Prugl and Audrey Lustgarten discuss gender mainstreaming within international organizations (United Nations Development Program, World Bank and International Labor Organization). Prugl and Lustgarten argue that the organizational processes and politics of international organizations give meaning to the notion of gender mainstreaming. Before beginning their analysis of gender, the authors provide a basic definition of mainstreaming, focused on the United Nations Economic and Social Council's (ECOSOC) definition. This definition (which emerged from the gender and development approach) sees unequal gender power relations as the result of practices embedded within institutions. As such, the primary tool for equalizing these power relations would be to to focus on changing institutions and women's role within them rather than providing aid directly to women.

The authors go on to discuss three components of ECOSOC's definition of mainstreaming. The first is "infusing gender considerations into organizational processes" the second is "integrating concerns of men and women ...in the output of organizations" and the third is "specifying the goal of mainstreaming is equality between men and women" (56). These level play a crucial role in Prugl and Lustarten's analysis. They argue that each international organization that they analyze focuses on one aspect of mainstreaming. The UNDP focuses on processes, the World Bank on policy and the ILO on defining gender equality. As the writers present a historical overview of each aspect of gender mainstreaming within these international organizations, they also point to the limitations of implementing each aspect within a specific organization. For example, the ILO's focus on specifying equality but achieving this might be difficult because of its "commitment to tripartism (67)." WIthin the ILO tripartism is "social dialogue between unions, employer organizations and government as a means toward establishing social justice (67)." Unfortunately, women are not represented in any of these groups, making it difficult to implement feminist policies.

The connection between women's presence and feminist policies does not seem to be necessary. Men in these organizations should be capable of considering male and female interests in potential policies. Just like these individuals are capable of making policies that affect citizens of developing countries, then they should be able to weigh both sides of the gender debate when formulating policies. At the same time, the presence of women in international organizations does not necessarily mean that there will be a change in organizational culture. This view assumes that an individual's gender plays a large role in determining their priorities or interests. Other characteristics like ethnicity, education and social-class play a role in shaping interests, not just gender.

The main argument was the use of co-option and subversion of gender mainstreaming by the UNDP, World Bank and ILO and tying mainstreaming to each organizations' agenda. The author's examination of mainstreaming in the World Bank shows the gender mainstreaming focuses on social issues rather than markets and neo-liberal economics. The authors point to the dialectic between feminists within international organizations and those without to prevent complete co-option of gender mainstreaming by international organizations. Feminist scholars and activists would encourage accountability and legitimacy of feminists within international organizations.

The article is very focused on gender mainstreaming from a top-down perspective. In the end the authors point to the possibility of feminist scholars and activists encouraging accountability within international organizations, however, they do not go into sufficient detail about the mechanism to achieve this change. There does not seem to be any incentive for feminists within international organizations to engage with feminists scholars and activists once the agenda of feminists within international organizations have been co-opted by these organizations.

The article's focus on gender mainstreaming within international organizations does not leave room for the investigation of bottom-up processes which work to increase gender equality, however, these processes are just as likely to increase gender awareness. Increasing female organization from the bottom up also has the two-fold benefit of strengthening civil society while working to achieve gender equality.

Given the focus on gender mainstreaming within institutions, the authors do not give much importance to the state. The state can be an important actor in changing social practices and spear-head efforts to increase gender equality and increase female participation within state institutions. A bottom-up approach to gender mainstreaming would then have the added benefit of increasing participation and accountability towards a large minority group, women. At the same time, this would foster civil society and increase democratic practice.