Constitutions, education and gender norms change: Evidence from Colombia

How do gender norms change? This paper provides evidence that exposure to mandatory high school courses on the 1991 Colombian Constitution—which incorporated principles of gender equality—significantly influenced attitudes toward gender roles. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we compare individuals who were exposed to these courses with those who were not. The results show that constitutional education increased support for gender equality, particularly among men. The effect is stronger when a younger woman is present in the household, suggesting a possible motivation to support the empowerment of younger female relatives. We also document important gender differences in how these shifts manifest within households: women exposed to the courses were more likely to reject the idea that men should be the head of the household, whereas men’s views on intra-household roles remained largely unchanged. This contrast points to persistent resistance to gender norm change within the private sphere, even as broader attitudes become more egalitarian. Taken together, the findings underscore the role of institutional and cultural change—through constitutional reform and civic education—in fostering more egalitarian gender norms, while also highlighting the complexity of such transformations.