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Taking the unique case of a network of groups working for the defence of women’s rights (the Information Centres on the Rights of Women and Families, “Centres d’information sur les droits des femmes et des familles” or CIDFF), we analyse how gender theory is appropriated and then rearticulated by professionals in the network within the framework of their work that aims at supporting vulnerable women in their path towards social integration. The article presents some particularly innovative strategies that attempt to combine fighting unemployment with diversity in the workpace and with the emancipation of women. It also shows the limits of these strategies in the context of state withdrawal and recurrent financial difficulties that sometimes jeopardise the work and original aims of these groups.