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The book argues convincingly that gender budgeting has a strong transformative potential for gender equality (when it is effectively and fully implemented). As feminist policies are still often seen to be about'soft issues', not money and finance, the book's argument is still needed.

Yet, the book, with its rich documentation of gender budgeting initiatives across Europe, also shows how rare it is to see gender budgeting done in an effective way where it matters most for empowering women and advancing towards gender equality. The sad story of the financial crisis of 2008 is a case in point: this is when gender budgeting should have been deployed, and could have had the strongest effect. However, the opportunity was missed, and the crisis has rather led to backsliding (p. 48). The book shows this, but does not analyze it in more depth. The stories about the rise and fall of gender