The transformative potential of gender mainstreaming is vividly debated: some argue that organisational integration and diffusion of responsibility of gender equality work prevent marginalisation of the gender perspective (Squires 2005; Walby 2005). Others claim that the change potentially achieved by gender mainstreaming is hindered by norms and functions within already gendered organisations (Stratigaki 2005; Verloo 2005; Bacchi et al 2010). From within a feminist new-institutionalist framework, we focus on the modern gender equality work as we investigate local variation of gender-based violence and gender mainstreaming in five Swedish municipalities. More specifically, we investigate if gender mainstreaming contributes to change and institutionalisation of the municipalities’ work on combating violence against women. We develop and apply the concepts of framing, responsibility, designate of gender and spreading/visibility of gender-based violence in public documents. The empirical findings indicate that the presence of gender mainstreaming do not correlate with a positive transformation in combating gender-based violence. The results also reveal substantial differences between the researched municipalities, however overall indicating that gender equality and gender-based violence are continuously perceived as non-related. The analysis suggests that the integration of the two policy areas is largely affected by how doing gender is practiced in the local context. Although gender-based violence is often considered the ultimate sign of gender inequality, and on the national level a political issue, it does not always permeate the work against gender-based violence on the local level.