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

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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?

Indira Jaising

Indira Jaising is the Director of Lawyers‘ Collective Women’s Rights Initiative. She was the first woman to be designated Senior Advocate (1986) and the first woman to be appointed Additional Solicitor General of India (2009). Throughout her legal career, Jaising has focused on the protection of the human rights of women, successfully defending several landmark cases on discrimination. The driving force behind the drafting of, lobbying for and enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Jaising was also instrumental in drafting the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2006. She was nominated to the CEDAW Committee in January 2009, and was the recipient of the Padma Shri in 2005.