Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Bond, Johanna --- "Gender and post-colonial constitutions in Sub-Saharan Africa" [2017] ELECD 837; in Irving, Helen (ed), "Constitutions and Gender" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 81

Book Title: Constitutions and Gender

Editor(s): Irving, Helen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784716950

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Gender and post-colonial constitutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author(s): Bond, Johanna

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

This chapter explores the colonial history that set the stage for the regional embrace of exclusionary clauses in post-independence constitutions. In this context, it examines the damaging impact these provisions have had on women’s rights campaigns within the region. Section 3.2 of the chapter describes the plural legal systems that resulted from colonial occupation in the region. Section 3.3 briefly addresses the independence constitutions put in place when countries emerged from colonial rule. Section 3.4 more fully explains the impact of those constitutions, with a focus on the exclusionary clauses and women’s rights in those countries. Section 3.5 describes more recent constitutional reform efforts in some countries that have sought to eliminate the exclusionary clauses. Finally, section 3.6 briefly assesses the next wave of gender-sensitive constitutional reform, focusing on efforts within the region to increase women’s representation in formal political institutions.