ABSTRACT
In this chapter I build a framework for theorising equality in Europe through the case of training for gender equality. I present a map of the key themes and questions in the practice and political economy of gender expertise in this region. This highlights the transnational genealogy of equality work and specialised gender and feminist knowledges; and the interconnections between differently located actors and the constellation of equality actions. This map also reveals the tensions and debates around the relationship between feminism and gender expertise and the co-optation thereof. I argue that these factors reveal the need for theorisation, which incorporates an understanding of competing and contested paradigms and knowledge in movement, as well as the interrelation of social systems and the dynamics of change processes which impact equality work. This forms the basis for a theoretical architecture, which proposes gender knowledge as an analytical device and an original model of knowledge circulation through gender training together with concepts of social complexity theory. This conceptual lexicon is fruitful for the analysis of how equality is translated and circulated through gender training in Europe. This framework illuminates the reformulations that take place in processes of equality-building and provides insights for responses to current sociopolitical challenges.
