Davis, Megan --- "Indigenous women and constitutional recognition" [2017] ELECD 847; in Irving, Helen (ed), "Constitutions and Gender" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 357

Book Title: Constitutions and Gender

Editor(s): Irving, Helen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784716950

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Indigenous women and constitutional recognition

Author(s): Davis, Megan

Number of pages: 30

Abstract/Description:

This chapter seeks to contribute to the literature by examining gender and Indigenous constitutional recognition in three jurisdictions: Australia, Canada and South Africa. Each of the case studies in this chapter was selected for different reasons: Australia had no early treaty with the Aboriginal polities and therefore, compared with South Africa and Canada, there is a lesser degree of legitimacy afforded to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as ‘first peoples’ in Australia’s constitutional arrangements. The current (at the time of writing) Indigenous constitutional ‘recognition’ process aims to recognize the fact of Indigenous peoples being in Australia first, but does not contemplate the creation of any rights. In many ways Australia is a less complex case study than Canada and South Africa because, in the absence of a treaty agreement or treaties, and in the absence of any entrenched constitutional rights such as Indigenous rights or gender equality, there has been less constitutional activity in the way of litigation or activism. Even so the current iteration of Indigenous constitutional reform has its genesis in constitutional litigation that involved Aboriginal woman and the protection of a sacred site, and this will be examined in the Australian case study.