Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Constituting equality -- Introduction: Comparative Constitutional Law, Gender Equality, and Constitutional Design -- A. Section one: structure -- B. Section two: rights -- C. Section three: culturereligion and gender equality -- E. Section four: constitutions and international law -- F. Section five: women in the process of constitution making -- G. Conclusion -- Section One Structure -- 1 Gender Quotas in Politics - A Constitutional Challenge -- Introduction -- I. Taxonomy of quotas -- A. The First Dimension -- B. The Second Dimension -- C. Combining the Two Dimensions: Six Quota Types -- D. Gender Neutral? -- E. Do Quotas Suspend Competition? -- F. From Candidate to Electee -- II. Frequency of gender quotas -- III. Legislated candidate quotas -- IV. Voluntary candidate quotas in political parties -- A. Swedish Political Parties -- V. Reserved seat quotas -- A. Rwanda -- B. Other Examples -- Conclusion: voluntary or legislative gender quotas? -- 2 Equality, Representation, and Challenge to Hierarchy: Justifying Electoral Quotas for Women -- I. Objections to electoral gender quotas -- II. Models of equality and democratic representation -- A. Models of Equality -- B. Models of Democracy -- III. The unanswered objection -- IV. The idea of challenge as an element of democracy and equality -- V. Application to electoral gender quotas -- VI. The emotional stance implicit in the focus on challenge -- Section Two Rights -- 3 More than Rights -- Introduction -- I. Constitutional opportunity structures -- II. More than equality rights -- III. Hegemonic universalism -- IV. Freezing the conceptual imagination -- V. Costs of litigation -- Conclusion -- 4 Perfectionism and Fundamentalism in the Application of the German Abortion Laws.

I. German abortion law from the 1970s until german reunification -- II. The post-unification compromise -- III. Perfectionist and fundamentalist characteristics defined -- IV. My feminist fundamentalist concerns about the german compromise -- V. Perfectionism and fundamentalism in the response of the catholic church -- 5 Moral Authority in English and American Abortion Law -- I. English and american law in contrast and comparison -- A. Abortion Rights and State Interests in Contrast and Comparison -- B. Minors, Autonomy Rights, and Abortion in Contrast and Comparison -- C. Third-Party Moral Authority in English and American Abortion Law -- II. Investigating the evidence and gendered basis of third-party moral authority -- A. The Moral Authorities: An Evidenced-Based Approach -- B. The Moral Authorities: A Gendered Approach -- III. A new moral authority in abortion law -- A. The Moral Authority of Experience -- B. Young Women's Moral Authority -- Conclusion -- Section Three Culture/religion and gender equality -- 6 Must Feminists Support Entrenchment of Sex Equality? Lessons from Quebec -- Introduction -- I. Constitutional setting -- II. Feminist tensions -- III. Constitutional design -- A. First Lesson -- B. Second Lesson -- C. Third Lesson -- Conclusion -- 7 Deconstructing the East/West Binary: Substantive Equality and Islamic Marriage in a Comparative Dialogue -- Introduction -- I. A substantive equality approach to islamic family law: gender and the indeterminacy of legal doctrine -- A. The Enforcement of Mahr According to Gender Equity Standards -- i. The Enforcement and Readjustment of Mahr as Alimony: The Case of Germany -- ii. The Enforcement of Mahr Even Though the Wife Initiated Divorce: The Case of Québec -- B. The Unenforceability of Mahr According to Fairness Principles.

i. The Unenforceability of Mahr On the Basis of Equity: The Case of Québec -- ii. The Unenforceability of Mahr on the Basis of Substantial Justice: The Case of Canada -- iii. The Unenforceability of Mahr on Grounds of Public Policy: The Case of France and the United States -- II. The state-church / western-islamic contradiction -- A. The Production of Western Law -- B. The Production of Islamic Law -- Conclusion -- 8 Conflicting Agendas? Women's Rights and Customary Law in African Constitutional Reform -- Introduction -- I. Background -- II. African women's movement contributions to global rights discourses -- A. Political Rights -- B. Violence against Women -- C. Positive Rights -- III. Least challenging reforms -- A. Employment-Related Rights -- B. Citizenship -- IV. Colonial legal legacies -- V. Customary law -- A. Women Treated as Minors -- i. Girl Child -- ii. Female Genital Cutting -- B. Inheritance Rights -- C. Land Rights -- Conclusions -- 9 Gender Equality and the Rule of Law in Liberia: Statutory Law, Customary Law, and the Status of Women -- Introduction -- I. Background: customary law and its adverse effects on women -- II. The constitutional framework -- III. Gender equality: inequality among women -- A. Customary versus Civil Law: The Statutory Background -- B. The Supreme Court Rulings on Women and Customary Law -- C. The Necessity for Reform -- IV. Gender inequality: inequality between men and women -- V. Law and culture: changing laws, hearts, and minds -- A. AFELL and the Inheritance and Rape Laws: A Case Study in Reform -- B. Future Projects -- VI. Recommendations and conclusion -- A. Recommendations -- B. Conclusion -- Section Four Constitutions and international law -- 10 Constitutional Incorporation of International and Comparative Human Rights Law: The Colombian Constitutional Court Decision C-355/2006 -- Introduction.

I. The structure and summary of the decision -- A. The Facts -- B. The Structure of the Decision -- C. The Ruling of the Court -- II. The court's reasoning -- A. The Incorporation of International Human Rights Law into Domestic Constitutional Law -- B. The Status of Prenatal Life under the Colombian Constitution and Constitutionalized Human Rights Treaties -- C. The Status of Women's Rights under the Colombian Constitution and Constitutionalized Human Rights Treaties -- D. How the Proportionality Principle Limits Legislative Power to Criminalize Abortion -- III. The colombian decision as a model for other latin american courts -- IV. The originality of the decision and challenges ahead -- 11 Guatemalan Transnational Feminists: How Their Search for Constitutional Equality Interplays with International Law -- Introduction -- I. Guatemala: fertile ground for rooted cosmopolitanism -- A. Unenviable Conditions -- B. Constitutional History, Gender Equality, and Human Rights: Setting the Stage for Cosmopolitanism -- i. The 1945 Constitution -- ii. The 1965 Constitution -- iii. The 1985 Constitution -- II. Leaving guatemala -- A. International Law -- B. International Encounters - The Notable Role of Trans-border Feminism -- C. Peace Agreements -- D. Guatemalan cosmopolitans -- i. Acting Within -- ii. Acting Out -- III. Continued cause for cosmopolitanism -- Conclusion -- Section Five Women in the process of constitution making -- 12 Women in the Constitutional Drafting Process in Burma -- I. A brief history of burmese constitutionalism -- II. Current constitutional processes -- III. The sources of discrimination against women in burma -- IV. The wlb's position on gender equality -- V. Wlb's strategy for women's participation -- VI. Results of the wlb's approach -- VII. Remaining challenges: where do we go from here?.

13 Founding Mothers for a Palestinian Constitution? -- Introduction -- I. The existing legal regime -- A. Custom and Tradition -- B. Religious Law (Shari'a) -- C. Personal Status Code -- D. Electoral laws -- II. The basic law and draft constitution -- III. Suggestions for the founding mothers -- Conclusion -- Conclusion: Gender Equality and the Idea of a Constitution: Entrenchment, Jurisdiction, Interpretation -- I. Feminist theory and constitutional theory: rapprochement or disengagement? -- II. Constitutions and entrenchment -- III. Jurisdiction -- A. Federal Jurisdiction - Hierarchy, Exclusivity, Concurrency -- B. International Jurisdiction -- IV. Interpretation -- Conclusion -- Index.