ABSTRACT
Constitutions have for the most part been constructed by men and have reflected (dominant) male perspectives on power, politics and citizenship. The interests of women have often been neglected, as women have seldom been party to the drafting of constitutions. When they have had an input, it has tended to be as a minority, seldom claiming a right to be there as women, but rather as ‘citizens who happen to be women’. Constitutions are the frameworks which aim to determine ‘who gets what, when and how’. They will often include an expression of a set of values and aspirations for the society, incorporating concepts such as fairness, respect, equal treatment. Feminist writers have more than adequately established that the models of citizenship which have become established from the seventeenth Century onwards have been based on aspects of behaviour or images associated with men: the warrior, the self-reliant, independent and rational individual. Women in European cultures, as Pateman (1990) points out, were granted citizenship in recognition of their domestic heroism. In recent times, women have been expected to assimilate to a masculine model or accept lesser status. Recognising difference has meant accepting exclusion from a masculine public world of politics.
