GENDER, CITIZENSHIP AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONTROL

Abstract

The constitutional control is inscribed in the more general (political and legal) problem of conciliating the predominance of the majority with the absolute respect to the essential rights protected by the most important organism that is the Constitution. In our country, it is carried out by the Judicial Power, whose members become in this way, the interpreters and guarantors of the Constitution.

In this work we point out some problems about the constitutional control that generally do not appear in the treatment of the issue. Those that are not registered, neither social nor juridically, as violations of the rights and liberties, and that affect particularly women precisely because of their gender.

Ignoring Women´s autonomy is a constant practice within the Judicial System, specially with respect to sexuality and reproduction, and it is expressed in norms that are based on the traditional model of femininity (maternal and dependant) that do not enable the recognition of Women as persons with decision making capacity.

It is possible to show that although laws may not have any relationship with sex, they can be applied in discriminatory ways, or without protecting certain rights. The Law, in theory and practice, does not work with the same categories when dealing with Women, and these differences therefore constructed are framed within social definitions that have historically described what is to be a woman or a man, inferiorizing Women and weakening for a long time their capacity to become full citizens.