The decision by the World Bank to ‘mainstream gender’ after the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women was a major achievement of the women’s movement and a powerful means of improving the lives of poor women in countries where the bank works. Concrete steps have been taken by committed staff at the bank – including its president since the mid 1990s, James Wolfensohn – to have gender issues integrated into bank decisions and operations. Recent evaluations, however, indicate that there is still a long way to go in taking mainstreaming beyond rhetoric. This article looks at these critiques as part of a broader assessment that considers why, despite the best efforts of people inside and outside the World Bank, gender remains at the margins.