Negotiating gender equality in development organizations:The role of agency in the institutionalization of new norms and practices

This article considers how, in the context of development, the negotiation of meanings and individual values can create a crucial link between an awareness of gender relations and actual changes in the norms and practices of an organization. I use the concept of institutional agency to question whether as gendered individuals, development practitioners can challenge how development organizations go about their work? Or whether we are all trapped in a ‘meta structure’ of norms, practices and meanings that ultimately block both our own agency and the changes we are trying to bring about?