Institutional Change in Constrained Circumstances: Gender, Resistance, and Critical Actors in the Chilean Executive. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Staab, Silke; Waylen, Georgina
• Is Part Of: Latin American politics and society. Volume 62:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 50
• Page End: 74
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: gender equality, -- executive branch, -- institutional change, -- feminist institutionalism, -- Chile; Latin America -- Periodicals; Amérique latine -- Périodiques; Sociale ontwikkeling; Politieke ontwikkeling; 980
• DOI: 10.1017/lap.2020.15
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1531-426X

Abstract

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.