Promoting Gender Equality: Michelle Bachelet and Formal and Informal Institutional Change within the Chilean Presidency

Thomas, Gwynn

doi:10.1057/9781137501981_5

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In these groups, most of the cases classified belong to low-social economic groups, and in the most sexist group, there is a prevalence of men. This is striking, because since the beginning of Michelle Bachelet’s first government in 2006, in Chile there is a strong gender equality agenda, which has promoted pension reforms to achieve a less unequal income distribution by gender, laws against domestic violence, among others ( Thomas, 2016 ). However, there are no longitudinal studies to date in order to compare stereotypes before and after the introduction of this public agenda.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Palliative Function of Hostile Sexism among High and Low-Status Chilean Students

Salfate

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Previous studies have demonstrated that justifying the social, economic, and political systems is associated with psychological well-being, which has been termed as the palliative function of ideology. However, little research has been conducted on gender stereotypes among children, comparing by socioeconomic status. This study aimed to fill this gap in the system justification literature. We present data from the Chilean version of the International Survey of Children Well-Being (ISCWeB), which was conducted in 2012. We found that the palliative function of gender stereotypes is present among this sample, being qualified by a socioeconomic status by hostile gender stereotype interaction. In other words, the effect on the psychological well-being was observed in low-status, but not in high-status students. These results extend the previous knowledge about the palliative function of the ideology, suggesting why the low-status members of a society actively engage in system justification.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Palliative Function of Hostile Sexism among High and Low-Status Chilean Students

Salfate

2017

Front. Psychol.

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“…In contrast to her predecessors, Bachelet personally attended council meetings and expected ministers to do the same. Thomas (2016) reports that ministers who might have previously been late or absent gave it a higher priority once Bachelet questioned them at meetings. Second, she created new mechanisms to enhance progress on gender equality goals at the cabinet level: a team of gender advisers, coordinated by SERNAM, would monitor the progress of ministerial gender commitments and give a higher priority to the equality duty that in 2002 had been incorporated into the PMG (the public sector Management Improvement Program set up in 1998) (Matamala 2010;PNUD 2010).…”

Section: Critical Actors Change Mechanisms and Gendered Policy Refomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our comparative analysis of the Bachelet government's efforts to achieve change in these policy areas advances our understanding of positive gender change in three ways. First, examining policy areas that were central pillars of Bachelet's first presidency from a gender perspective fills important gaps in the gendered analysis of Bachelet's administration, as well as gender policy change in Chile and Latin America more broadly (Franceschet 2006;Stevenson 2012;Thomas 2016;Haas 2010). To date, explicit gender equality policies, like domestic violence under the auspices of SERNAM, the women's policy agency, have attracted the most scholarly attention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Staab¹,

Waylen²

2020

Lat Am Polit Soc

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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.

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“…The Women's Secretary was intended to generate legitimacy for the military regime and to propagate Pinochet's vision of the “patriarchal family” as the ideal order. In Pinochet's vision, women were to concentrate on family affairs, patriotic childhood upbringing, welfare, and the fight against poverty (Thomas, 2016 ). This traditional division (vision) of gender roles was not unique to Pinochet, as it had already been promoted under the rule of Salvador Allende and been institutionalized in the National Women's Secretary (Godoy Ramos, 2013 ): the slogan of the leading parties under Allende was “Give land to the man who works it,” which institutionalized gender-specific land rights (Tinsman, 2000 , p. 158).…”

Section: Gender Policies In Chilementioning

confidence: 99%

The Normalization of Conservative Gender Politics in Chile and the Role of Civil Society

Graf

2020

Front. Sociol.

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The article discusses two cases of gender policy making during the Chilean transition to democracy, the policy on domestic violence and the divorce law. By comparing the official discourses on these two policy projects we show that authoritarian gender regimes can resist transition to democracy despite a vivid civil society. The case of Chile was selected, on one hand, because it exhibits particularly resistant authoritarian institutional enclaves. On the other hand, Chilean women's movements are often cited as a paragon of women's movements in transitions. Despite the central role of Chilean women's movements as a strong civil society force conservative gender roles and institutions inherited from the autocratic regime (e.g., conservative divorce and reproductive rights) have remained dominant. I argue that during the time of transition conservative political actors, but also parts of civil society, negotiated on these gender roles and institutions and thereby reached a status quo. Recent cases of sexual violence in response to student's uprisings show that this status quo is quite stable and prevents a real coming to terms with state violence.

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Promoting Gender Equality: Michelle Bachelet and Formal and Informal Institutional Change within the Chilean Presidency

Cited by 12 publications

References 20 publications

The Palliative Function of Hostile Sexism among High and Low-Status Chilean Students

The Palliative Function of Hostile Sexism among High and Low-Status Chilean Students

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

The Normalization of Conservative Gender Politics in Chile and the Role of Civil Society

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