Introduction: Goals, Research Questions and Comparative Framework

The goal of this chapter is twofold: to identify the research questions and framework for the book based on the GEPP approach and to introduce the individual cases of gender equality policy implementation in France that are analyzed in the seven chapters by 18 leading policy experts of gender policy in France. The GEPP approach and framework are introduced in the first section of the chapter in terms of the larger questions and goals of the study and how the researchers who conducted the seven cases of policy implementation used the framework in data collection and analysis. In the second section of the chapter, the comparative rationale for selecting France as a fertile laboratory in which to examine the complex dynamics, outcomes and determinants of gender equality policy in practice is covered. The road map for the rest of the book is then outlined in the last section of the chapter.