Configurations of Ancestral Norms and Women’s Empowerment

Ulugbek Aminjonov () and Olivier Bargain ()
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Ulugbek Aminjonov: Trier University
Olivier Bargain: University of Bordeaux

No 18955, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: This paper examines how combinations of ancestral cultural norms are associated with women’s empowerment across ethnic groups worldwide. Linking DHS data to the Ethnographic Atlas, we develop a hybrid supervised–unsupervised approach combining Partial Least Squares and k-means clustering to identify five probabilistic normative regimes. Severe disempowerment is associated with an accumulation of restrictive norms, while religious norms and women’s agricultural roles distinguish higher-empowerment environments within broadly patriarchal configurations. Further up the gradient, contrasts concern hierarchical social institutions, then kinship and the loosening of patriarchal arrangements, before more gender-neutral configurations prevail at the highest empowerment levels. Norms’ salience varies with the configurations in which they are embedded, revealing strongly non-monotonic patterns. These findings are robust to adjustment for contemporary socioeconomic conditions and a range of sensitivity checks. The analysis provides a global mapping of ancestral normative environments associated with women’s agency and identifies configurations most closely related to severe intra-household inequality.

Keywords: women’s empowerment; ancestral norms; cultural persistence; kinship systems; machine learning; gender inequality; DHS; Ethnographic Atlas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C38 D13 J16 O15 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
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