Gender Mainstreaming — Hidden Leadership?

Abstract

This article intends to open a discussion of what it might mean to lead gender equality mainstreaming in the context of significant changes in equality legislation and in the governance of the public services. The research data are drawn from two sources: a research workshop with public service managers in the south‐west of England and interviews with equality advisors in five English local government organizations. The analysis contributes to a growing stream of feminist and critical leadership research that is concerned with the gendered, relational and interpretive practices of leading. It also contributes to research into forms of leadership that are emerging in the context of changes in the public services in the UK and more widely in the European Union. Leadership of gender mainstreaming is conceptualized in its gendered, relational and interpretive qualities.