This article critically examines the concept of gender mainstreaming and raises questions about a series of category slippages in debates and discussions. Some key concerns are the way in which women are constructed as a unified analytical category, and how gender equality is frequently reduced to issues of representation. It also critically interrogates how gender mainstreaming initiatives can be undermined by sexist practices such as sexual harassment. Focusing on higher education, it draws on empirical data from the research project "Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard" (sussex.ac.uk/wphegt). Central arguments relate to the call for intersectional analyses and how GM needs to go beyond access and representation and address feminist concerns with the way in which gendered power and privilege are enacted in everyday social relations in higher education institutions. (Contains 8 tables.)