Women, Gender, and Constitutionalism Conference

27 November 2024

L-R: Morales-Cerda, Brodeala, Elliott-Williams, and Gebeye discuss comparative experiences of gender constitutionalism

On 27 November 2024, the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism at UCL Laws organised a conference on women, gender, and constitutionalism. The conference was held to celebrate the launch of the newly published book Women, Gender and Constitutionalism in Latin America, edited by Francisca Pou Giménez, Ruth Rubio Marín, and Verónica Undurraga Valdés (Routledge, 2024). The conference featured a panel on comparative experiences of gender constitutionalism around the world, and a roundtable with the book’s editors, addressing constitutional resilience and lessons from Latin America.

Following opening remarks by Eloise Scotford, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Laws, the conference began with the first panel, titled ‘Inter-Regional Dialogue: Experiences in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America’. This panel, moderated by Natalia Morales-Cerda, PhD Candidate in Law and Graduate Lecturer in Public Law at UCL, highlighted experiences of gender constitutionalism in various regions.

Elena Brodeala, Lecturer in Law at the University of Kent, began by discussing sexual and reproductive rights in Romania and her current project on rewriting judgments of the Romanian Constitutional Court from a feminist perspective. Berihun Gebeye, Lecturer in Law at UCL, then discussed constitutional law and practice in Africa as they relate to women’s rights, using specific examples to highlight how the openness of the constitutional system provides different avenues for women to assert and defend their rights. From the Caribbean perspective, Gabrielle Elliott-Williams, PhD Candidate in Law at UCL and Lecturer in Law at the University of the West Indies, discussed the Caribbean Court of Justice, arguing that the Court’s gender-sensitive approach and transnational nature increase the likelihood of diffusion to enhance gender rights across the region.

Bringing together the various discussions by the other panellists, Verónica Undurraga Valdés, Professor of Law at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and one of the editors of the book, highlighted that legal feminists should be open to using different strategies to protect women’s rights, whether that involves enhancing formalism or, as in the case of Africa, taking advantage of the ambiguities within the system. The panel ended with a vibrant discussion featuring questions and comments from the audience.

Following a toast to the success of the book, a roundtable featuring two of the book’s editors, Ruth Rubio Marín, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Seville, and Francisca Pou Giménez, Senior Researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Institute for Legal Research, was moderated by Erin Delaney, Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law and Director of the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism at UCL. The panellists shared insights from the book for gender constitutionalism and constitutional resilience in and beyond Latin America. The discussion was wide-ranging and featured questions from an engaged audience. At its conclusion, participants and presenters agreed that more collective efforts, like the book project, were needed to generate new insights for constitutional resilience.

L-R: Pou Giménez, Rubio Marín, and Delaney in roundtable on gender constitutionalism and constitutional resilience