The gender and politics literature offers diverse views on the causes of gendered practices and the best methodologies for studying them. This article advances efforts to take stock of and systematize this diversity by grounding the feminist institutionalist perspective in critical realism. The article posits that gendered institutions are real entities with independent powers, while also emphasizing the crucial role that human ideas play in upholding and contesting gendered practices. To faithfully capture gendered institutions and their relationship with human agency, the article promotes the use of the abductive-retroductive research design. This approach allows feminist institutionalist scholars to construct and test multiple competing theories about gendered institutions, drawing from various empirical manifestations of institutional power. These expressions range from observable actions to codified rules, socially shared norms, and other subtle discourses. By shedding light on the principles at the heart of realist-oriented feminist research, this work paves the way for a more standardized and transparent approach to feminist inquiries.

中文翻译：

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性别机构以及在哪里可以找到它们：批判现实主义方法

性别和政治文献对性别实践的原因和研究它们的最佳方法提供了不同的观点。本文通过将女性主义制度主义观点扎根于批判现实主义，推进了对这种多样性进行评估和系统化的努力。文章认为，性别机构是具有独立权力的真实实体，同时也强调了人类思想在维护和反对性别实践方面发挥的关键作用。为了忠实地捕捉性别机构及其与人类机构的关系，本文提倡使用溯因研究设计。这种方法允许女权主义制度主义学者从制度权力的各种经验表现中构建和检验关于性别制度的多种竞争理论。这些表达的范围从可观察的行为到成文的规则、社会共享的规范和其他微妙的话语。通过阐明以现实主义为导向的女权主义研究的核心原则，这项工作为采用更加标准化和透明的女权主义研究方法铺平了道路。