Instituting Equality: Women’s Policy Agencies in the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence

Abstract

This dissertation explores the role of an understudied but persistent institution created to "mainstream" gender equality: the Women’s Policy Agency (WPA). Specifically, I focus on the role that WPAs in Latin America play in impacting the content and implementation of anti-gender-based violence policy. In an effort to add to research that demonstrates mixed results about whether or not WPAs are independently effective, I forward an argument that takes WPA resources into consideration. I define five separate WPA attributes as qualities that agencies may possess and exercise in the gender mainstreaming process, and argue that where more of these attributes are present, WPAs conduct gender mainstreaming more effectively. In order to assess this argument, I break anti-GBV policy down into distinct policy instruments to recognize the multiple approaches that policy may take to approach the issue of GBV. For example, while some elements of anti-GBV policy are centered around punishing perpetrators of violence, others are oriented towards providing support for victims or training public officials to better respond to situations in which GBV is present. In my third chapter, I introduce this typology and provide an assessment of anti-GBV policy across Latin America. I find that, in recent decades, both the variety and quantity of policy instruments has increased over time. Crucially, there are marked differences between two separate “waves” of policy that I identify: while first wave policy is largely focused on punishing acts of domestic violence, second wave policy tends to address GBV in a more comprehensive way, recognizing its many forms and promising assistance to those affected by GBV. My fourth and fifth chapters consist of in-depth case studies of national level WPAs in Argentina and Colombia. Findings from each chapter provide tentative support for my argument: WPA communication with legislators is associated with policy that has more organized delegation to different government agencies, and WPA connections to social movements are associated with policy that prohibits the use of procedures associated with revictimization. These case studies confirm that WPAs operate with low levels of resources, despite some recent growth. In each case, however, WPAs optimize scarce resources by specializing in particular functions associated with gender mainstreaming. For future work on WPAs, this research highlights the need to continue studying these agencies with a greater degree of nuance, as agencies may be effective in some areas and not others. More broadly, this research suggests that scholars of comparative politics should not ignore the potential role of equality-oriented institutions; while their effect may be small, the persistence and growth of these institutions over time suggests that they may only become more prominent in the future.