This thesis analyses the making of gender mainstreaming in regional development politics. Because of that gender mainstreaming can be filled with any meaning it has been of interest to study how gender mainstreaming in regional development policy is made. This is also especially interesting since gender mainstreaming is criticized in previous research of the tool. With Carol Bacchis methodological framework, “what’s the problem represented to be?” governing through problematization is analyzed. Specifically, the regional development politics problem representation of gender equality and gender mainstreaming and it effects are analyzed. The result of this analysis shows that gender equality and gender mainstreaming is made to be something that the regions simply can download to its own organization. The thing that stands between the region and a successful download is simply knowledge. What I find is that this discourse is limiting to gender mainstreaming as a tool and for the regions that utilizes it. The discursive and subjectifing effects of the found problem representation leads according to me to depoliticization of the policy area in the material. This in turn has its own issues and limits. In summary gender mainstreaming is not made to make structural change in regional development politics.