Institutions and Gender Discrimination

Abstract

Institutions are social constructs fashioned by collective human choices. They embody the generally accepted way of thinking and behaving. They are humanly devised constraints that structure human interactions. According to Crawford and Ostrom, “An institution … is a regular behavior pattern sustained by mutual expectations about the actions that others will take … The grounds for looking at institutions as norms rest on an assumption that many observed patterns of interaction are based on the shared perceptions among a group of individuals of proper and improper behavior in particular situations”(1995: 583).