Systems of state decorations have often been overlooked by political scientists. However, they are highly indicative of dominant social norms and power differentials. While historical research has highlighted gender disparities in award bestowals in individual countries, comparative perspectives and cross-national analyses are still missing. This article provides the most comprehensive comparative analysis of the gender gap in state decorations. Using an original data set of all 11,559 recipients of civil awards in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from 1994 to 2020, it shows that women received significantly fewer awards than men across the three countries, with only moderate progress over time. Even where women and men were recognized in equal numbers, women remained underrepresented among higher classes of awards and were more likely to be recognized for achievements in stereotypically feminine fields. Our findings contribute to research on gendered institutions and highlight the usefulness of award bestowals as an indicator of sociopolitical phenomena.

中文翻译：

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民用国家装饰中的性别差距：波罗的海国家的比较研究，1994-2020

国家勋章制度经常被政治学家忽视。然而，它们高度表明了主导的社会规范和权力差异。尽管历史研究强调了各个国家授予奖项的性别差异，但仍然缺乏比较视角和跨国分析。本文对国家勋章中的性别差距进行了最全面的比较分析。使用 1994 年至 2020 年爱沙尼亚、拉脱维亚和立陶宛所有 11,559 名民事奖项获得者的原始数据集显示，这三个国家的女性获得的奖项明显少于男性，而且随着时间的推移，进步幅度不大。即使在女性和男性获得同等数量认可的地方，女性在较高级别奖项中的代表性仍然不足，并且更有可能因在刻板印象中的女性领域取得的成就而受到认可。我们的研究结果有助于对性别机构的研究，并强调奖励作为社会政治现象指标的有用性。