gender sensitivity was first given recognition under the official UNHCR Guidelines in the 1990s, approaches in decision making processes and the legal framework have constantly been influenced by questions of gender. However, gender is no longer at the centre of refugee agenda and, as the evidence beyond this volume suggests, even in the jurisdictions that were the first to recognise the need for gender sensitive approaches in analysing asylum seekers’ claims, an astonishing number of decisions and practices do not meet the standards of the UNHCR guidelines (Arbel, Introduction: p.6).