The Search for the Elusive Recipe for Gender Equality: Comparative Lessons from Policy Practice in France

This concluding chapter takes the findings of the rich case analyses conducted by the 18 French policy experts in the preceding seven chapters to answer the questions of whether gender policy implementation matters and what is the elusive recipe for policy success. The first section conducts a comparative analysis of the findings in terms of the different components of the Gender Equality Policy in Practice (GEPP) model—outputs, inclusive policy empowerment and gender transformation. The analysis shows that there is an imperative of “gender accommodation” in the outcomes of six out of seven policy cases—in other words partial success. Next, the discussion turns to the question of whether policy implementation matters in this imperative of partial success and of the combination of ingredients, arguing that country similarities rather than sectoral dynamics are more important in the recipe. The last part of the chapter identifies the lessons to be learned from these findings in terms of both comparative theory-building and policy-relevant perspectives and the future research agenda.