Chapter 1 demonstrates variation in gender equality among EU member states and motivates the need for renewed research on the topic. The chapter introduces the concepts willingness of the state to change in women-friendly directions and detrimental characteristics such as corruption as “twin dimensions” that needs to be studied in tandem in order to fully understand how gender equality developments unfold. A key point of the chapter is that feminist scholars were for a long time rather uninterested in the state because of its expected role in the maintenance of a patriarchal system. In recent years this has changed but few study the more hidden or elusive aspects of state power, e.g., corruption, that may block or slow down progressive change. The ideas behind a focus on EU member states are introduced, the key motivation being that this constitutes a particularly tough test for the theoretical assumptions to gain support. Compared to many other regions of the world, the EU’s member states are relatively well-functioning. This makes the EU into an interesting case to analyze.