Final answer:
Convents were the Catholic institutions that provided power and responsibility to women before the Protestant Reformation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Catholic institutions that provided power and responsibility to women before the Protestant Reformation are convents. Convents were communal institutions where women could live a religious life separate from the male-dominated society. They allowed women to have a role in society that was not dependent on their relationship to a father or husband, and some women even enjoyed significant influence as abbesses.