What role do institutional constraints and social norms play in determining persistent gender gapsin economic and political participation and have institutional reforms been successful in reducing these gaps? This paper argues that, at the roots of current gender inequalities, there are traditional patriarchal social structures in which power is unequally distributed, with men traditionally holding authority over women. The power imbalance is manifested in governance arrangements, of which the author consider discriminatory formal laws and adverse gender norms that perpetuate gender inequality. The author reviewed the evidence on the effectiveness of reforms addressing gender inequality and applied via formal law changes. Aware of endogeneity issues as reforms may be adopted in countries where attitudes toward women had already been improving, we focus on micro-empirical studies that tackle this challenge. The evidence suggests that some reforms have been successful reducing inequalities. Power and norms can shift and sometimes temporary interventions can deliver long-term results. There are, however, enormous challenges posed by power inequalities and inherent social norms that are slow-moving. Formal laws can remain ineffective or cause a backlash because: i) the law is poorly implemented and/or people are not aware of it; ii) informal systems and social norms/sanctions are stronger; iii) powerful groups (in our case, men) may oppose these changes. Finally, reforms that improve women’s economic opportunities can create the conditions to increase political participation and vice-versa, thereby generating a self-reinforcing cycle of inclusion.

中文翻译：

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治理与妇女的经济和政治参与：权力不平等，形式限制和规范

在确定持续存在的经济和政治参与中的性别差距方面，制度上的约束和社会规范起着什么作用？体制改革是否已成功地缩小了这些差距？本文认为，在当前性别不平等的根源上，存在着传统的父权制社会结构，权力分布不均，而传统上男人则拥有对女人的权威。权力不平衡表现在治理安排中，作者认为其中存在歧视性的正式法律和不利于性别的准则，这些准则使性别不平等长期存在。作者回顾了有关解决性别不平等的改革有效性的证据，并通过正式的法律变更予以应用。意识到内生性问题，因为在对妇女的态度已经有所改善的国家中可能会进行改革，我们专注于应对这一挑战的微观经验研究。有证据表明，一些改革已成功地减少了不平等现象。权力和规范可能会发生变化，有时临时干预可以带来长期结果。但是，权力不平等和内在的社会规范正在缓慢发展，这带来了巨大的挑战。正式法律可能仍然无效或引起反弹，原因是：i）法律执行不力和/或人们不了解它；ii）非正式制度和社会规范/制裁得到加强；iii）强大的团体（在我们的情况下是男人）可以反对这些变化。最后，改善妇女经济机会的改革可以创造条件，增加政治参与度，反之亦然，从而产生一个自我强化的包容性循环。