ABSTRACT This article examines whether responsive law reforms can promote gender equality in authoritarian regimes, focusing on the challenges faced in advancing gender equality. Existing gender equality laws primarily strengthen women’s rights through private law but fail to clearly define governmental responsibilities. The authorities seek to enhance regulatory legitimacy through laws while relying on official cultural norms to support cultural legitimacy. However, the lack of coherence between regulatory and cultural legitimacy results in selective adherence to cultural norms rather than legal ones, hindering the implementation of gender equality. Therefore, responsive law reforms can improve women’s rights and interests in the private law sphere, but such reforms also tend to privatize public issues and require individuals to solve public problems through private gaming. The article further demonstrates that gender equality should aim at substantive equality, which requires the State to clarify governmental responsibilities and leverage cultural legitimacy to uphold this principle. Otherwise, it may result in the marginalization of vulnerable groups and the erosion of social trust, ultimately undermining public confidence in legitimacy. The article contributes by exploring the selective logic of authoritarianism in responding to public demands and its long-term effects, offering a complementary perspective on rule of law under authoritarian regimes.
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