Gender, Women and Constitutionalism in East and Southeast Asia

The symposium “Gender, Women and Constitutionalism in East and Southeast Asia” seeks to foreground a region that is both globally central and yet comparatively under-examined in mainstream debates on gender and constitutional law. East and Southeast Asia are home to a wide spectrum of constitutional regimes, including liberal and electoral democracies, hybrid and competitive authoritarian systems, constitutional monarchies, socialist one-party states, Confucian-influenced polities and jurisdictions in which religious norms explicitly shape constitutional arrangements. Across these varied settings, the lives of women and sexual and gender diverse people are structured by complex dynamics in the household, community, market and state institutions, making the constitutional regulation of gender especially consequential.

Despite this significance, gender constitutionalism in East and Southeast Asia remains understudied. The recent edited volume Gender, Sexuality and Constitutionalism in Asia has played an important role in opening the field and mapping how constitutional texts, structures and processes may affirm or constrain the equal citizenship of women and sexual and gender diverse people.  This symposium advances this discussion by focusing on how the different constitutional regime types promote and hinder gender constitutionalism. For the purposes the symposium, we are approaching gender constitutionalism as a ‘project of rethinking constitutional law in a manner that addresses and reflects feminist thought and [gendered experiences].’ (Beverley Baines, Daphne Barak-Erez, and Tsvi Kahana, ‘Introduction: The Idea and Practice of Feminist Constitutionalism’ in Beverley Baines, Daphne Barak-Erez, and Tsvi Kahana (eds), Feminist Constitutionalism: Global Perspectives (CUP 2012).  

Based on analyses of the interactions between the constitutional regime type and legal frameworks relating to women and gender, firstly, we hope to develop a more comprehensive and context-sensitive understanding of “gender constitutionalism” – or, where appropriate, alternative concepts – that better capture the lived, often messy, constitutional realities of the region, including informal norms, plural legal orders, and the interaction between constitutional law, religious authority and customary practice. Secondly, we wish to reflect on the methodological tools needed to study gender and constitutionalism in these settings, bringing together doctrinal, socio-legal, historical and empirical approaches. 

The symposium will consist in two panels. The first panel will explore East Asian jurisdictions: South Korea, China, and Japan. The second panel will focus on Southeast Asia: Thailand, Singapore, and Philippines. By assembling scholars from across these jurisdictions, the symposium aims to generate a more nuanced comparative conversation about how constitutions in this part of the world structure gendered citizenship, enable or constrain struggles for equality, and invite us to rethink the categories and assumptions that underpin global debates on gender and constitutionalism. 

Panel 1 (moderator: Yihong Chen)

1. South Korea: Prof. Yoon Jin Shin, Seoul National University School of Law
2. China: Prof. Qin Aolei, China University of Political Science and Law
3. Japan: Prof. Akiko Ejima, Meiji University 

Panel 2 (moderator: Binendri Perera)

1. Thailand: Dr. Sarah Bishop, National University of Singapore  
2. Singapore: Prof. Maartje de Visser, Singapore Management University
3. Philippines: Prof. Gwen Grecia-De Vera, University of Philippines School of Law

Venue: Online

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/32281970161045?p=ixNsp5hg09wxL0bfTs

Meeting ID: 322 819 701 610 45

Passcode: qM7wR9Pm

Time: 9 AM – 12.15 PM GMT

5 PM - 8.15 PM CST/ SST/PHST, 6.00 - 9.15 PM JST/ KST