Scholars discuss gender equality

The conference “Constituting Equality: Gender Equality in Comparative Constitutional Law” brought a panel of female experts from five continents to the IU School of Law on Friday and Saturday. They delivered speeches on gender equality across the globe to a group of mostly women.\nAdult professionals and IU law students listened to panelist discussions about the similarities and differences in their countries.\nSecond-year law student Chrissy Habeeb said she hopes the conference will generate more awareness about gender equality in constitutions.\nFirst-year law student Kristine Kohlmeier said the women provided a broad perspective on feminism.\nEach panelist was given 20 minutes discuss a topic. After each set of panelists, questions were taken from the audience.\nAili Mari Tripp, a University of Wisconsin- Madison professor, spoke about the developments in gender equality that African countries are making. \n“Since 1990, 38 countries in Africa have had their constitutions rewritten,” she said.\nShe said these constitutions are now including nondiscriminatory provisions that are testaments of how much has changed. \n“Laws against domestic violence and genital cutting were not even mentioned in (constitutions) before,” she said.\nThe new laws can make way for better treatment of women in Africa, Tripp said.\n“This is evidence the culture is not static and is changing to provide for women’s rights,” Tripp said.\nLiberian Supreme Court Justice Felicia Coleman spoke about gender-equality conditions in Liberia.\n“Despite efforts of women in lawmaking, the laws still do not protect their rights,” she said.\nShe said women in rural areas have no education and are expected to serve their husbands.\n“The world is a man-dominated society,” Coleman said. “Women are second-class and have not been able to compete with men due to lack in allowance of formal education. Even though women make up 52 percent of the population, women’s primary job is to bear and raise children.”\nA handful of men were also in attendance to hear the presentations. \nBloomington attorney Lee Pettay said he finds the topic interesting and wants to learn more about gender-equality issues.\n“I was impressed with Susan William’s speech about Afghanistan and how they’ve allowed women the right to vote,” he said, “but 85 percent of them are illiterate and don’t know how to vote.”\nChristian Ochoa, an IU law professor and panelist, spoke about gender discrimination in Guatemala and what constitutional changes have been made to fight it.\n“Women can only work outside the home if it doesn’t get in the way of her role as a homemaker,” she said.\nShe said that in 1985 a freedom-of-discrimination act was created that would give women two breaks every day to nurse their children. \n“It’s very modern,” she said.\nOchoa said the fear of a changing constitution might lead to increased violence against women. This is especially true if men are cut out of traditional roles, since they see themselves as the ones responsible for founding the culture in the first place.\nLaura Ginger, an IU professor and lawyer, said she was interested in hearing about the double standard against women.\n“There are laws in place (against discrimination of women), but unless they are carried out, they are useless,” she said.\nGinger said the only problem with the conference was the time restriction. Panelists had to cut their speeches short to fit them in the 20-minute time frame. \n“There should be more free time for open conversation in between panels, because that’s when the real discussion occurs,” she said.\nOverall, panelists and attendees said they were happy with how the conference turned out.\n“It’s been a very long two days, but I feel the hard work was more than worth it,” said event coordinator Nikki Rolf. Rolf said the different papers delivered by the panelists will be compiled into a book.\n“It’s been a fabulous conference,” Ochoa said. “I’ve learned a lot from everyone who attended.”