Men's Laws, Women's Lives: A Constitutional Perspective on Religion, Common Law and Culture in South Asia

For about half a century now, South Asia has enjoyed independence and constitutional rule, but many countries have inherited a plural legal system as a legacy of colonialism. In all five countries of the region constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination are confounded by discriminatory personal laws that institutionalise gender inequality. Contributors to this volume address this problem from the perspective of countries that are statedly democratic and secular, as well as those that are theocratic, and from the experience of maintaining plural legal systems. The questions they pose include: has the adoption of secular constitutions made any difference to the legal status of women? What impact, if any, does the adoption of a secular constitution have on the regime of personal laws? Has the transition from colonialism to constitutionalism made any difference to the rights of women? Has the adoption of constitutions that recognise equal rights made any difference to the institutionalised private/public divide?