Constitutions

Citation:

Aldoughli, Rahaf. 2019. "Interrogating the Constructions of Masculinist Protection and Militarism in the Syrian Constitution of 1973." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 15 (1): 48-74.

Author: Rahaf Aldoughli

Abstract:

This is a revisionist study of Syrian Baʾathism. At its heart is an examination of ingrained masculinist bias. This article argues that there is a reciprocal relationship between militarism and masculinity, achieved through gratifying protection for both the nation and women. While most feminist scholarship dealing with states formation in the Arab context attributes its gendered nature to dictatorship, patriarchy, and religion, there is no debate about the development of states and their relation to militarism and masculinism. This construction of militarized masculinity in Baʾath ideology ensures the preservation of gendered laws that perceive women as less equal. While teasing out this aspect, this study seeks to explore the status of women in the Syrian Constitution (1973) and laws by investigating the role of the state as a male protector in which women’s rights become challenged by the state’s paternalistic perceptions.

Keywords: militarism, masculinist protection, women, Syria, constitutions

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Governance, Constitutions, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Syria

Year: 2019

Citation:

Bhatasara, Sandra. 2020. “Women’s Access to Land and Security of Tenure Post 2013 Constitution in Zimbabwe.” African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences 3 (1): 186-194.

Author: Sandra Bhatasara

Abstract:

Rural women’s livelihoods in Africa are dependent on their rights and entitlement to land as well as security of tenure. Equally important is how land laws and land governance systems shape and reshape women’s access to land and tenure security. As such, this paper focuses on women’s access to land and tenure security after the adoption of a new Constitution in 2013 and Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014 in Zimbabwe. Whereas both legal instruments are progressive and guarantee women’s rights to property, their realisation is shrouded in complexities and contradictions. Customary practices still insist on male privileges to own and allocate land whilst women have fragile usufruct rights and limited sole or joint ownership. State and administrators are also complicit in violating women’s rights. Overall, there is need to uphold both the Constitution and related laws to promote gender justice when it comes to women’s land rights and tenure security.

Keywords: women, land rights, tenure security, Constitution, Zimbabwe, land laws

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Constitutions, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2020

Citation:

Sulle, Emmanuel, Sue Mbaya, Barbara Codispoti, Josephine Atananga, Bernard Moseti, and Leah Mugehera. 2019. “Women’s Land Rights in Africa: Does Implementation Match Policy?” Paper presented at Conference on Land Policy in Africa, 2019: Winning the fight against Corruption in the Land Sector: Sustainable Pathway for Africa’s Transformation, Abidjan, November 25-29.

Authors: Emmanuel Sulle, Sue Mbaya, Barbara Codispoti, Josephine Atananga, Bernard Moseti, Leah Mugehera

Abstract:

This paper assesses the performance of selected countries in implementing the provisions of women’s land rights instruments such as African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa and the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure among others. Field research was carried out in seven African countries whereby, in each country a national researcher in collaboration with the collaborating nongovernmental organisation selected three heterogeneous locations which capture the range of situations under which rural women use land. Based on field research results complemented with desk review, the study finds that while statutory laws to protect women land rights are in place in all studied countries, with some differences and, in some cases with existing loopholes, adherence to these laws at the community level remain inadequate. This is particularly evident in terms of equality of rights to inherit land among men and women. Women experience constant threat from clansmen and relatives of their husbands. As also documented elsewhere, in many African communities (although not all), most land-holding systems are male lineage based, with men playing an important decision-making role. Malawi represents a specific case in this regard, as most land-holdings are based on matrilineal systems, but this still is not an automatic guarantee of women having more decision-making power on land. Based on these findings the paper confirms that while impressive steps to address women’s land rights issues have been taken in recent African policies, law enforceability is yet to receive sufficient political backing, due to widespread patriarchal values, limited financial and human resources and last but not least informal rules of the games that are the same drivers of widespread corruption. Patronage, ‘clientage’, illegality and opacity of land transactions find fertile ground in a patriarchal system. Understanding the status, causes and consequences of the de facto ‘unenforceability’ of constitutional and legal provisions in favour of women might shed a light on much broader challenges like those addressed in this conference. Holistic implementation and reforms that 1) address existing loopholes in land laws and regulation, 2) align other sectoral policies, laws and regulations, and 3) use transformative actions to revert patriarchal values in order to bridge the gender gap in property rights, but also to help creating a fairer environment to contribute combating corruption.

Topics: Corruption, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies, Land Tenure, Governance, Constitutions, NGOs, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Togo

Year: 2019

Citation:

Nyangueso, Samuel Ouma, Samuel Oyoo Orwa, Margaret Ombai, and Salma Sheba. 2020. “Effects of Gender Mainstreaming Efforts on Rural Transport Institutions in Kenya.” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Transport 173 (2): 76-86.

Authors: Samuel Ouma Nyangueso , Samuel Oyoo Orwa, Margaret Ombai, Salma Sheba

Abstract:

This paper reports on an investigation into the effects of gender mainstreaming efforts on the institutions that deliver and support rural transport infrastructure and services in Kenya. It comes at a time when the nation is implementing robust policies, supported by enabling legislative and institutional frameworks for gender mainstreaming as required by the Constitution of Kenya 2010. A multi-level case study was conducted at national and county levels where many institutions were surveyed. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected, covering gender analysis in staffing, decision-making and procurement for a sample of rural transport institutions. Results show that gender mainstreaming efforts have transformed rural transport institutions towards gender-responsive staffing, human resource practices, budgeting, procurement and implementation of transport-related works. However, achieving the constitutional two-thirds affirmative action policy in staffing remains a challenge, more so in technical and decision-making bodies. The study found that the meaning and purpose of gender mainstreaming is not sufficiently understood by the majority of transport sector institutions. Additionally, gender-disaggregated data are neither readily available nor applied to rural transport programming and implementation. A change of strategy and long-term progressive efforts are required to realise gender equity in rural transport institutions in Kenya and beyond.

Keywords: procurement, recruitment, transport, planning

Topics: Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Governance, Constitutions, Infrastructure, Transportation, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2020

Citation:

Forster, Robert. 2019. A Gender Analysis of Peace Agreements and Transitional Documents in Libya, 2011-2018. Edinburgh: UN Women.

Author: Robert Forster

Annotation:

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, MENA, North Africa Countries: Libya

Year: 2019

Citation:

Dudwick, Nora, and Kathleen Kuehnast. 2016. Gender and Fragility: Ensuring a Golden Hour. United States Institute of Peace. 

Authors: Nora Dudwick, Kathleen Kuehnast

Annotation:

Summary: 
"Physicians refer to the “golden hour” as the period after traumatic injury when successful emergency treatment is still possible. The chapeau paper for this series, U.S. Leadership and the Problem of State Fragility, defines fragility as the breakdown or absence of a social contract between people and their government. The collapse of social and political order in response to natural disasters, population displacements, violence, and/or war, however, can paradoxically provide opportunities for societal change. The need to reimagine and rebuild ruptured institutions can create openings for renegotiating gender roles and establishing the basis of an inclusive and more stable society. Unless gender equality receives high level and dedicated support during this “golden hour,” long-standing patterns of inequality are likely to be reestablished. As noted by an expert on security studies, “Promotion of gender equality goes far beyond the issue of social justice and has important consequences for international security.” The golden hour for gender is not after the peace treaties have been signed. The social contract on gender equality must be conceived before the crisis has ended, and then written into the new constitution, implemented in the reconfigured institutions, and prioritized in newly developed education textbooks” (Dudwick and Kuehnast 2016, 1).

Topics: Education, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Post-Conflict Governance, Post-Conflict, Peace Processes, Security

Year: 2016

Citation:

Suteu, Silvia, and Christine Bell. 2018. Women, Constitution-Making and Peace Processes. New York: UN Women. 

Authors: Silvia Suteu, Christine Bell

Annotation:

Summary:
"Constitutions form the fundamental legal document in states where they exist, and will usually have priority over ordinary legislation. They provide an interpretive lens through which legislation will be applied, and set the tone for law-making generally. Women and minorities can anchor rights claims and legal claims against discrimination in constitutional language.

Constitutions tend to be more difficult to amend than ordinary legislation, requiring special majorities in parliament and sometimes additional validation steps (such as popular referendums or court certification) for amendments to come into effect. It is important, therefore, for women’s rights to be enshrined in the constitution from the beginning. The difficulty of changing constitutions once they are adopted means that inclusion of rights may be of enduring importance, and omission of rights may be very difficult to correct.

In post-conflict settings, constitutions are deeply intertwined with peacebuilding, good governance and the rule of law. Enshrining women’s rights in societies emerging from conflict is, however, not easy: gender equality is often considered of low priority during constitutional negotiations as compared with issues such as the division of state power and resources, and the way that this should be translated into institutional design. Sometimes gender equality will be relegated to law-making after constitutional drafting. The fact that there are still constitutions in the world today which make no mention of equality generally, or gender equality specifically, is proof that insisting on engendering the constitution is important.

Constitutions also play a deeply symbolic role. They embody a new social contract, whose terms will signal the inclusion or exclusion of particular segments of society. The numerous references to “founding fathers”, “Father of the Nation”, “brotherhood”, or “sons” in constitutions signal the male-dominated understanding of the political community and women’s exclusion from it. Conversely, an explicit reference to “men and women” as part of “we, the people” – as the Tunisian constitution’s preamble includes – can serve to clarify that the state takes women’s contributions seriously and recognizes women as full members of society" (Suteu and Bell 2018, 1).

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Post-Conflict, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2018

Citation:

Demetriou, Olga. 2018. "The Impact of Women's Activism on the Peace Negotiations in Cyprus." Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 24 (1): 50-65.  

Author: Olga Demetriou

Abstract:

This article focuses on Cypriot women's activism and the work of the Gender Advisory Team (GAT). Referencing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, GAT produced specific recommendations to the negotiators and third parties to the Cyprus peace process. In this article, we discuss GAT's recommendations regarding governance and power-sharing from a feminist perspective and the application of a gender-ethnicity nexus in the context of citizenship and belonging. Comparing the parameters used to discuss citizenship in the ongoing Cyprus peace negotiations with those of the 1960 Constitution, in this article we also examine shifts in governmentality through the conflict and postconflict periods, concentrating at each point on presumptions about gender. We argue that current discussions about citizenship are partly the result of unacknowledged considerations of gender, which have been placed on the table by gender activists. This situation poses a question about how we are to interpret the paradoxical incorporation of activist women's voices in peace processes.

Topics: Conflict, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Governance, Constitutions, Post-Conflict, Peace Processes, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS Regions: Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Cyprus

Year: 2018

Citation:

True, Jacqui, and Yolanda Riveros-Morales. 2019. “Towards Inclusive Peace: Analysing Gender-Sensitive Peace Agreements 2000–2016.” International Political Science Review 40 (1): 23–40.

Authors: Jacqui True, Yolanda Riveros-Morales

Abstract:

The presence of gender provisions in peace agreements affects women’s participation in post-conflict societies as well as the chances that a post-conflict society will move towards gender equality. While there is an overall upward trend in the number of references to women’s rights and gender equality in peace agreements, gender-sensitive agreements are not a given. Why and how are peace agreements with gender provisions adopted? We use statistical analysis to explain why some peace agreements adopt gender provisions while others have no such provisions. Based on an analysis of 98 peace agreements across 55 countries between 2000 and 2016, we find that peace agreements are significantly more likely to have gender provisions when women participate in elite peace processes. Our study also shows that the likelihood of achieving a peace agreement with gender provisions increases when women’s representation in national parliaments increases and when women’s civil society participation is significant.

Keywords: Peace agreeements, women, peace and security, women's political participation, inclusive peace processes, gender equality norms

Topics: Civil Society, Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Quotas, NGOs, Peace and Security, Peace Processes, Rights, Women's Rights, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325

Year: 2019

Citation:

Abdullah, Hussaina J. 2000. "Religious Revivalism, Human Rights Activism and the Struggle for Women's Rights in Nigeria." In Beyond Rights Talk and Culture Talk: Comparative Essays on Political Rights and Culture, edited by Mahmood Mamdani, 96-120. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.

Author: Hussaina J. Abdullah

Annotation:

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Constitutions, Religion, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2000