Patriarchy on the map: Women’s empowerment trajectories in Nepal’s changing social context

Gender inequalities persist globally, and Nepal is no exception. However, over the past two decades, numerous legal reforms have expanded the rights of women. This paper examines the changing impact of patriarchal intensity on women’s empowerment proxies in this context. We develop a measure of patriarchy based on the demographic behavior of neighbors in 2001 and explore how its importance has changed in relation to women’s empowerment indicators (decision-making power, paid and non-agricultural employment) over two decades. Our findings indicate a growing heterogeneity in women’s empowerment over time, despite overarching positive trends. These results are consistent with a straightforward model suggesting that actual empowerment depends on the legal framework and a cost associated with seizing available opportunities, increasing with patriarchy. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of employing a spatial measure that encompasses all neighbors to comprehend such dynamic patterns.