Social norms, rule of law, and gender reality: An essay on the limits of the dominant rule-of-law paradigm

Abstract

Numerous empirical studies have shown that the “Rule of Law” is positively associated with a range of desirable outcome variables including GDP levels, financial market development, the rate of investment as well as the volume of trade, human rights, and even with declines in child mortality, to name a few. In this paper we confront the puzzle that for all but the richest countries the same positive association does not hold for the status of women in society. Using country level data, we show that the status of women in society is relatively weakly associated with various Rule of Law indices, and that in poor countries this association disappears altogether. Similarly, in high-income countries we find a high correlation between gender equality and indicators for the rule of law. By contrast, for low(er)-income countries there is no such correlation. We seek to explain this puzzle. One explanation for which we find some empirical support is that the status of women in society is determined primarily by social norms about gender equality and that these norms are only weakly affected by legal institutions. These findings prompt us to reconsider the relationship between rule of law, social norms, and economic development. They also lead us to ask how the Rule of Law is conceptualized in available indices and how this conceptualization may affect our results.