Where do Women Stand? New Evidence on the Presence and Absence of Gender Equality in the World's Constitutions

Cassola, Adèle; Raub, Amy; Foley, Danielle; Heymann, Jody

doi:10.1017/s1743923x1400004x

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Although the constitution of 2014 is more gender just than its predecessors with respect to constitutional design and specific articles relating to women's rights, without a unified feminist front as well as the political opportunity to hold authorities to account for enforcement, its mobilization power is stunted. However, as Cassola et al (2014) and Waylen (2006) note that, at the very least, when more gender-sensitive constitutions are promulgated, they become more difficult to repeal or amend than other legislative or policy commitments. In that sense, the Egyptian case study supports other scholarship that highlights the importance of a constitution having articles that clearly stimulate a commitment to gender equality as the normative and legal basis for pro-equality claims-making thereafter.…”

Section: Comparative Discussion Of the Two Constitutions Processes Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Feminist scholarship has also pointed to the importance of women's mobilization for en-gendering the new political order and its constitution. Cassola et al (2014) state, “The increasingly visible and effective mobilization of organized women's rights movements has also been critical in securing the inclusion of gender protections in constitutions around the world—through sustained pressure and incremental change in some contexts and by seizing opportunities for rapid transformation during times of marked political change in others” (228). Analysis of constitutional drafting processes by Waylen (2004, 2006), Rai (2000), and Tripp (2016) in transitional contexts in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and African countries also point to the central importance of women's activism for the process of advancing a constitution that is more gender just.…”

Section: En-gendering Transitional Constitutionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Negotiating Women in Egypt's Post-Mubarak Constitutions (2012–2014)

Tadros

2019

Pol & Gen

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This paper presents a comparative “gender audit” of Egypt's two constitutions (2012, 2014) developed after a people's uprising in 2011 and 2013 led to the ousting of two presidents (Mubarak and Morsi respectively). Egypt's two constitutions are particularly compelling for the study of gender politics in transitional constitutionalism because while the number of women participating in the constitution writing process was very similar, the gendered outcomes were starkly different. While the political opportunity for mobilizing around women's rights was enhanced in the aftermath of Mubarak's demise, the capitalization of these opportunities by organized political forces with an anti-feminist agenda undermined the prospects of en-gendering the first post-Mubarak constitution. In contrast, the constitution of 2014, developed under severely circumscribed political space inhibiting women's mobilization, witnessed the exercise of women's constitutional agency to redress the containment of women's rights under the previous constitution and en-gender many elements of it, though the extent of its enforceability remains obscure. This paper draws on primary and secondary data to analyse, through a gender lens, the processes and outcomes involved in constitution drafting along three axes:context and political opportunity structures; coalitional politics, and political and ideological struggles.

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Section: Comparative Discussion Of the Two Constitutions Processes Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: En-gendering Transitional Constitutionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating Women in Egypt's Post-Mubarak Constitutions (2012–2014)

Tadros

2019

Pol & Gen

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“…256–257). Cassola, Raub, Foley, and Heymann (), in their cross‐national study of gender equality rights defined in the constitutions of nations around the world, have highlighted policy areas important for women: (a) general equality including non‐discrimination and equality of rights and opportunities; (b) political equality consisting of equality of participation in elections as voters and candidates; (c) socioeconomic equality combining education and employment; (d) equality of family roles and marital relations.…”

Section: Political Representation Of Women's Interests: Building a Comentioning

confidence: 99%

What are women's political interests? Connecting theory to empirical approaches in cross‐national perspective

Palaguta

2020

Sociology Compass

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Parliamentarians and other elected officials have the power to “act for” women and improve their substantive representation. Yet, women are not a homogeneous group with identical individual goals. Given the diversity of women, especially considering the social intersections within a multiplicity of socioeconomic and cultural arrangements across the globe, the identification of “women's political interests” worldwide is problematic. Does the concept of “women's interests” grasp the diversity of women's collective political demands? How can this concept be used to study women's substantive representation in legislative bodies? This article presents theoretical perspectives on the concept and their connection to empirical approaches to the identification of women's interests.

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“…Since the mid-1990s we have seen an increase in constitutional provisions addressing gender concerns in Africa. These are part of global trends in which women's rights are being incorporated through both universal and gender-specific protections of equality (Cassola et al 2014). In Africa most of these changes, especially the most far-reaching ones, are found in postconflict countries.…”

Section: Background To Constitutional Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's Movements and Constitution Making after Civil Unrest and Conflict in Africa: The Cases of Kenya and Somalia

Tripp

2016

Pol & Gen

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As numerous conflicts have come to an end in Africa over the past two decades, women's movements have sought to advance a women's rights agenda through peace accords; through constitutional, legislative, and electoral reforms; as well as through the introduction of gender quotas. This article focuses the impact women's movements have had in shaping constitutions after periods of turmoil, particularly in areas of equality, customary law, antidiscrimination, violence against women, quotas, and citizenship rights. It demonstrates how countries that have come out of major civil conflict and violent upheaval in Africa after the mid-1990s—but especially after 2000—have made more constitutional changes with respect to women's rights than other African countries. The second part of the article provides two examples of how women's movements influenced constitutional changes pertaining to gender equality as well as the difficulties they encountered, particularly with respect to the international community.

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Where do Women Stand? New Evidence on the Presence and Absence of Gender Equality in the World's Constitutions

Cited by 20 publications

References 11 publications

Negotiating Women in Egypt's Post-Mubarak Constitutions (2012–2014)

Negotiating Women in Egypt's Post-Mubarak Constitutions (2012–2014)

What are women's political interests? Connecting theory to empirical approaches in cross‐national perspective

Women's Movements and Constitution Making after Civil Unrest and Conflict in Africa: The Cases of Kenya and Somalia

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