This article examines Rwanda's gender equality policies with the intention of contributing to the ongoing debate in the literature on the meaning of gender equality initiatives in authoritarian states. The article evaluates the transformative potential of Rwanda's gender equality policies with reference to deep‐rooted societal norms and practices within which gender inequalities are embedded. To this end, the article draws on in‐depth interviews conducted in Rwanda with a range of stakeholders, as well as on documentary research. It explores the factors informing the Rwandan commitment to gender equality, and the positive developments this has brought about, before identifying five trends that threaten the transformative potential of Rwandan gender equality policies. The authors conclude that while a strong political will and target‐driven policies offer opportunities for promoting gender equality, the transformative potential is jeopardized by the dominance of an underlying economic rationale; the neglect of the ‘invisible labour’ of women; the formalistic implementation of gender policies and their focus on quantitative results; the limited scope for civil society voices to influence policy; and the lack of grassroots participation.

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This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the European Union (EU)'s distinctiveness as an international actor. In particular, it examines whether there is anything distinctive about the international development norms promoted by the EU. Previous studies have indicated that in the field of development policy the EU is predominantly a 'norm taker', meaning that it has to a large extent translated development aid norms originating from other donors, including the World Bank, into its own development policies. However, in recent years the EU has arguably become a more mature, ambitious and professionalized development actor, which explicitly aims to take the lead on the international development front. Therefore, this paper assesses whether the EU is still taking on development aid norms originating from the World Bank, generally considered a leader in international development thinking, influencing many other donors, including the EU. The paper does so by focusing on the development areas of governance, aid effectiveness and the social dimension of development. Importantly, the paper situates 'norms' at the specific level of 'policy ideas' (as opposed to 'programmatic' and 'philosophical' ideas), since normative differences between the EU and the World Bank -if any -might be translated differently by the two actors. Accordingly, the paper hypothesizes that both substantially and procedurally the EU has been stepping out of the shadow of the World Bank.Based on the findings presented in the paper, it appears that in the three areas studied the EU has effectively made a shift away from being a pure norm-taker from the World Bank, and towards becoming a more distinctive development actor, at least to some extent. Indeed, the paper finds that since the 2000s the EU and the World Bank have increasingly developed a different interpretation of the concepts of governance and aid effectiveness and the social dimension of development, both in terms of substance and procedure.2

petra Debusscher and anna van der vleuten mainstreaming gender in european Union development cooperation with sub-Saharan africa: promising numbers, narrow contents, telling silences 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.