Abstract The aim of this article is to explore the conceptualisation of benchmarking, ranking and good practice sharing tools within European Union gender equality policymaking. In the first part, the article looks at these soft law measures applied within intergovernmental cooperation. Stemming from the extensive body of literature, the study approaches these measures as a form of scientific knowledge, which is diversely applied within policymaking. Next, the article directs various points of criticism at these policymaking tools through different variables that may hinder knowledge use. The second section of this article further focuses on the Open Method of Coordination and the role of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in relation to gender equality policies. The empirical part of this article is focused on the criticism of EIGE’s External Evaluation Report and the different conceptualisations of scientific knowledge use which are presented within this audit document. As such, this article aims to contribute to a new conceptualisation of the technocratic tools of benchmarking, ranking and good practice sharing within the highly ideological area of gender equality policies.

中文翻译：

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标杆管理和性别平等排名的斗争：以欧洲性别平等研究所为例

摘要本文旨在探讨欧盟性别平等政策制定过程中基准，排名和良好实践共享工具的概念。在第一部分中，本文着眼于政府间合作中适用的这些软法措施。这项研究源于广泛的文献资料，将这些措施作为一种科学知识进行处理，在决策过程中得到了广泛应用。接下来，本文通过可能阻碍知识使用的不同变量，对这些决策工具提出了不同的批评。本文的第二部分进一步关注开放式协调方法以及欧洲性别平等研究所（EIGE）在性别平等政策方面的作用。本文的实证部分侧重于对EIGE外部评估报告的批评以及本审核文件中介绍的科学知识使用的不同概念。因此，本文旨在为在高度意识形态的性别平等政策领域内对基准，排名和良好做法共享的技术专家工具进行新的概念化。