Author: Indira Jaising
Publisher: Kali/Women Unlimited
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 392
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8188965073
Description
For about half a century now, South Asia has enjoyed independence and constitutional rule, but many countries have inherited a plural legal system as a legacy of colonialism. In all five counties of the region, constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination are confounded by discriminatory personal laws that institutionalize gender inequality.
Contributors to this volume address this problem from the perspective of countries that are statedly democratic and secular, as well as those that are theoretic, and from the experience of maintaining plural legal systems. Specifically, the questions they pose are: has the adoption of secular constitutions in these countries, with guaranteed human rights, made any difference to the legal status of women? What impact, if any, does the adoption of a secular constitution have on the regime of personal laws? Has the transition from colonialism to constitutionalism in the era of human rights made any difference to the rights of women? Do constitutions that recognize equal rights make any difference to the institutionalized private/public divide?
The essays in this volume by distinguished scholars, legal practitioners and human rights activists, address these questions and document efforts by women’s groups to find solutions within a human rights framework. By doing so, they highlight the striking universality of women’s inequality in South Asia, and the failure of our states to secure political and human rights for their female citizens.
Contents
Gender Justice-A Constitutional Perspective
INDIRA JAISING
Identity Within-Cultural Relativism, Minority Rights and the Empowerment of Women
RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY
Reason, Tradition, Authority-Religion and the Indian State
PRATAP BHANU MEHTA
Law Reform Processes in Plural Legal Systems
CASSANDRA BALCHIN
Religion, Culture and Sex Equality
MARTHA C NUSSBAUM
Plural Legal System and Equality-The Pakistani Experience
JEFF REDDING
But I am Both Sri Lankan Women under Parallel Legal Systems
RAMANI MUTTETTUWEGAMA
The Constitution and Gender Justice in Bangladesh
FAUSTINA PEREIRA
Sex Equality in South Asia
SAVITRI GOONESEKERE
Gender Equality in the Name of Religion
SHARAN PARMAR
Sex Equality and Personal Laws under the Constitution of India
CATHARINE A MACKINNON
Just Family Law-Basic to all Indian Women
ARCHANA PARASHAR
From Colonial to Constitutional, Gender Justice and Governance
INDIRA JAISING
Colonial or Constitutional? Gender Justice in Bangladesh
SALMA SOBHAN
Governance and Reform of Personal Laws in India
ZOYA HASAN
The Right to Choose-Whether, When and Whom to Marry
SARA HOSSAIN
CONTRIBUTORS