Gender mainstreaming, in shortest terms, means to create equal conditions for women and men at all levels of life in order to achieve gender equality. Gender equality is one of the basic principles of the European Union including Croatia, but those in the Republic of Croatia, as well as in all other countries, despite the historical strenuous and some progress, however, has not been fully realized. The inclusion of a gender perspective in public policies and practices is a complex challenge which should affect many areas of life, of which the most important are shown in this paper. After a brief overview of achieving gender equality throughout history, this paper shows statistics that point out the fact that women in many areas do not obtain the same rights as men. The most important indicators of gender inequality that are shown in this work are gender segregation in education, which later affects the disadvantaged position of women in the labor market, lack of representation in the process of political and public decision and inequality in the family and the incidence of domestic violence against women. Further, this work discusses the legal and institutional mechanisms for achieving gender equality in Croatia and in addition it provides guidelines for the achievement of gender equality. Finally, this paper emphasizes the role of social work as a profession that promotes social change and can greatly contribute to the implementation of gender sensitive policies. Throughout the whole work highlights are the social conditioning of gender inequality and the importance of including a gender perspective in public policies and practices for overall welfare and development of society as a whole.