WOMEN MAKING CONSTITUTIONS: NEW POLITICS AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES; ED. BY ALEXANDRA DOBROWOLSKY

This book provides a timely and revealing account of women's constitutional strategies and struggles. It compares and contrasts the latest constitutional developments within the United Kingdom with women's past and present struggles in countries including Canada, the United States and South Africa. Through theoretical engagement and practical experiences, the contributors develop crucial arguments on the nature and effect of constitutional change, equality, women's rights and representation. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Women, New Politics and Constitutional Change....Pages 1-19 Constitutional Rights Discourse: Canadian and South African Feminist Engagements....Pages 20-35 Balancing Strategies: Aboriginal Women and Constitutional Rights in Canada....Pages 36-51 Gender and Accountability....Pages 52-67 Women in Elected Office in the UK, 1992–2002: Struggles, Achievements and Possible Sea Change....Pages 68-83 Towards a New Politics? Women and the Constitutional Change in Scotland....Pages 84-98 Towards Substantive Representation: Women and Politics in South Africa....Pages 99-117 Redesigning the Polity: Europe, Women and Constitutional Politics in the UK....Pages 118-131 The Politics of Human Rights and Gender Equality in Northern Ireland....Pages 132-141 Women’s Rights after the Human Rights Act 1998....Pages 142-154 ‘Heightened Scrutiny’: A Judicial Route to Constitutional Equality for US Women....Pages 155-172 Increased Rights and Representation: Women and the Post-devolution Equality Agenda in Wales....Pages 173-184 Mainstreaming Equality in Northern Ireland....Pages 185-199 Reviewing the UK Equality Agenda in the Context of Constitutional Change....Pages 200-215 Group-differentiated Cultural Rights, Constitutionalism and Feminism....Pages 216-235 Women, Constitutionalism and Contestation: Some Tentative Conclusions....Pages 236-249 Back Matter....Pages 250-277 Women, Politics and Constitutional Change provides a timely and revealing account of women's constitutional strategies and struggles. It compares and contrasts the latest constitutional developments within the United Kingdom with women's past and present struggles in countries including Canada, the United States and South Africa. Women's constitutional reform interventions raise numerous issues from the discussion of reforms to institutional politics and the restructuring of new Assemblies and Parliaments to the relevance of the non-institutional political: the role of civil society, social movements and coalitions. Through theoretical engagement and practical experiences, the contributors develop crucial arguments on the nature and effect of constitutional change, equality, women's rights and representation. This shows how women, through their words and deeds, have challenged and shaped the nature and forms of constitutionalism This volume provides a timely and revealing account of women's constitutional strategies and struggles. It compares and contrasts the latest constitutional developments within the United Kingdom with women's past and present struggles in countries including Canada, the United States and South Africa. Through theoretical engagement and practical experiences, the contributors develop crucial arguments on the nature and effect of constitutional change, equality, women's rights and representation. This shows how women, through their words and deeds, have challenged and shaped the nature and forms of constitutionalism. Women have long asserted their 'rights' to equality and freedom and sought to have those 'rights' reflected in domestic and international legal systems.