Constituting Equality: Gender Equality and Comparative Constitutional Law [Hardcover]

Susan H. Williams (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521898366 | ISBN-13: 978-0521898362 | Publication Date: July 31, 2009 | Edition: 1

Constituting Equality addresses the question, how would you write a constitution if you really cared about gender equality? The book takes a design-oriented approach to the broad range of issues that arise in constitutional drafting concerning gender equality. Each section of the book examines a particular set of constitutional issues or doctrines across a range of different countries to explore what works, where, and why. Topics include (1) governmental structure (particularly electoral gender quotas); (2) rights provisions; (3) constitutional recognition for cultural or religious practices that discriminate against women; (4) domestic incorporation of international law; and (5) the role of women in the process of constitution-making. Interdisciplinary in orientation and global in scope, the book provides a menu for constitutional designers and others interested in how the fundamental legal order might more effectively promote gender equality.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Constituting Equality addresses the question, how would you write a constitution if you really cared about gender equality? Many people might assume that you would include a provision guaranteeing equality on the basis of sex or gender and then you would be done. But, in fact, almost every aspect of a constitution can have an effect on gender equality - from the choice of who will govern and how they are elected, to the role of religion or culture in the society, to the kinds of rights protected by the constitution. This book offers an introduction to this broad range of issues and possibilities.

About the Author

Susan H. Williams is the Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy. Professor Williams graduated from Harvard Law School, where she served on the board of editors for the Harvard Law Review and then clerked for Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1985-86). She has been a visiting faculty member at the University of Paris II (Pantheon-Assas) and a Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge University, and at the European University Institute in Fiesole, Italy. Professor Williams is the author of Truth, Autonomy, and Speech: Feminist Theory and the First Amendment (2004). She has published numerous articles on issues related to freedom of speech, feminist theory, freedom of religion, and civil society. Her writing has appeared in the Stanford Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Journal, the Berkeley Women's Law Journal, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, and the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law. At Indiana Law, Professor Williams teaches property, First Amendment law, feminist jurisprudence, and a seminar on comparative constitutional law on gender equality. Professor Williams is actively involved in constitutional advising for the Burmese democracy movement. She serves as a constitutional advisor to the Women's League of Burma, the Federal Constitution Drafting Coordinating Committee, and the state constitution drafting committees of all of the states of Burma. In this capacity, she teaches workshops, produces educational materials, and works on drafting and revising constitutional language.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (July 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521898366
• ISBN-13: 978-0521898362
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,664,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)