Vickers, Jill --- "Gendering'; federal constitutions" [2017] ELECD 840; in Irving, Helen (ed), "Constitutions and Gender" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 163

Book Title: Constitutions and Gender

Editor(s): Irving, Helen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784716950

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Gendering'; federal constitutions

Author(s): Vickers, Jill

Number of pages: 32

Abstract/Description:

This chapter proceeds in eight sections. After the introduction (section 6.1), section 6.2 discusses ‘gender’ and constitutional design in different types of federation. Section 6.3 explores how federations are ‘gendered’. In section 6.4, ‘gender’s’ spatial aspects are related to ‘federal arrangements’ – institutions, practices, ideas and discourses including the construct of the public/private divide. Section 6.5 considers how ‘federal arrangements’ affect women’s political representation, citing recent findings that women’s descriptive representation is higher in federations than in unitary states. Section 6.6 explores gender in relation to the effects of federalism on constitutional rights and section 6.7 looks at its impact on federations’ divisions of powers. Section 6.8 considers gender and the ‘fiscal constitution’ – notably financial equalization and social citizenship. The conclusion considers the potential impact of this emerging literature on federalism scholarship generally, especially regarding new questions for research, data collection and theory construction.