Book excerpt: In 1994, BRAC, the world's largest NGO, made headlines by putting women's rights centre stage in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world. The Gender Quality Action Learning (GQAL) Programme was one of the very first large-scale efforts to mainstream gender equality. Advancing Gender Equality in Bangladesh describes the history, implementation, and results of this major 20 year initiative and discusses what it teaches us about the fight to achieve gender equality outcomes. This in-depth analysis will be of considerable interest to students, researchers and development practitioners looking for new, more effective and practical ideas on how to promote equality and inclusion.