The Law, Race and Gender Research Unit invites you to a seminar by Priscilla Lambert and Druscilla Scribner titled Do Constitutions Matter? Gender Provisions and Women's Equality in Comparative Perspective.

All are welcome to attend!

Date: Friday 20 July 2012

Time: 12h30 - 14h00

Venue: Criminology Seminar Room, Level 6, Kramer Law Building, Middle Campus, UCT

RSVP: For catering purposes please RSVP with Sue Wright via e-mail or at 021 650 5906.

Abstract provided by the speakers:

New democracies, and some older ones, are increasingly including language about gender equality and women's rights in constitutions. The incorporation into constitutional law of gender conceptually and women as a 'class' of individuals raises fundamental questions about the role of law in structuring social and political power and promoting or hindering gender equality. Our research examines the incorporation of gender in national constitutions and the significance of this trend for women's equality. We trace the impact of different types of gender provisions on women's political and economic status across countries, and analyze the conditions under which constitutional provisions are likely to shape the content of laws and regulations that in turn affect women's well-being and equality. The research contributes to scholarly understandings of social policy and gender equality, constitutional design and performance, legal mobilization, and law and social change. We utilize both quantitative analysis of constitutions in 100 countries and qualitative analysis of four country cases. We are currently gathering data for the Botswana and South Africa case studies and completed field research in Chile and Argentina in 2011. In this talk we present evidence from the cross-national comparisons with special emphasis on recent fieldwork in Chile and Argentina.

About the speakers:

Priscilla Lambert is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Western Michigan University. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego in 2004. Her research interests include gender and politics, comparative political economy, Japanese politics, and the politics of family and social policy. She teaches Comparative Politics, Capitalism and Democracy, Comparative Political Economy, Women and Politics, Japanese Politics and International Politics.

Druscilla Scribner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She received her Ph.D. in political Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2004. Her research interests include women and politics, comparative judicial politics, and the politics of development. She teaches a range of courses in these areas, including Comparative Law and Constitutionalism, Politics of Development, Women and Politics, and Latin American Politics.