“Woman” in Cultural Reconstruction Since 1989

This chapter interrogates the cultural construction of “woman” across all 30 countries of the region as present in current legal codes. Through a content analysis of the national constitutions across this region, Pearce and Saville compare the verbiage of laws that mention women and gender, as a window into women’s subject position(s) in current political cultures. The results represent a mix of nation-based legal cultures, international “rights” norms, and feminist ideals. The chapter highlights similarities and differences between countries and concludes with observations on the place of these changing constitutions within the culture wars over gender.