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Institutional Change in Constrained Circumstances: Gender, Resistance, and Critical Actors in the Chilean Executive

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2020

Silke Staab Open the ORCID record for Silke Staab [Opens in a new window]  and
Georgina Waylen Open the ORCID record for Georgina Waylen [Opens in a new window]
Silke Staab
Affiliation:
Silke Staab is a research specialist at UN Women. [email protected].
Georgina Waylen
Affiliation:
Georgina Waylen is a professor of politics at the University of Manchester. [email protected].
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Abstract

Because gender equality actors rarely have sufficient power to create new institutions, this article asks how they can achieve positive gender change in constrained circumstances when the creation of new rules is not possible. Building on a feminist institutionalist approach to analyzing gendered institutional dynamics, power, and resistance, we open the “black box” of one executive: Michelle Bachelet’s first presidency in Chile (2006–10). Using theory-guided process tracing and primarily qualitative data, we examine key reforms in three policy areas—health, pensions, and childcare—that were central to Bachelet’s first program. By analyzing how efforts to incorporate positive gender change fared differently in each area, this study shows how far utilizing, subverting, or converting existing rules—more “hidden” forms of change, often away from legislatures—can be effective, if limited, strategies when gender equality advocates face resistance.

Keywords

gender equalityexecutive branchinstitutional changefeminist institutionalismChile
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 62 , Issue 4 , November 2020 , pp. 50 - 74
Copyright
© The Authors, 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

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Footnotes

The views expressed in this article are her own and do not represent the views of UN Women, the United Nations, or any of its affiliated organizations.

Conflicts of interest: Silke Staab and Georgina Waylen declare none.

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