(Read On! ... occasional posts on writing we're reading) It’s nearly Spring in North America (it IS coming), so in addition to feeling the sun and hearing the birds, we’re looking forward to a bevy of new books on global issues by women in international and 
comparative law. Two prominent feminist legal advocates are adding to the reading list.Leading experts Penelope Andrews (right), Professor of Law at Valparaiso School of Law, and Susan Bazilli, (pictured in photo at bottom), Director of the International Women's Rights Project (IWRP), which is based jointly at the Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Canada, and in Johannesburg, South Africa, have co-edited a new collection on constitutionalism, rights implementation, and the rule of law.
Law and Rights: Global Perspectives on Constitutionalism and Governance (Vandeplas 2009) engages current debates about “the context, substance and meaning of constitutionalism,” using both comparative and municipal approaches.
Among the authors are leading constitutional, human rights, anti-discrimination, and socio-economic rights scholars and advocates based in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United 
Kingdom, and the United States. They include, for example, Taunya Lovell Banks (right), Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence and the Francis & Harriet Iglehart Research Professor of Law at the University of Maryland School of Law.
According to the abstract, the contributors
Kingdom, and the United States. They include, for example, Taunya Lovell Banks (right), Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence and the Francis & Harriet Iglehart Research Professor of Law at the University of Maryland School of Law.According to the abstract, the contributors
analyze and interpret these issues from the perspectives of those who administer and implement constitutional mandates, such as legislators and judges. But they also examine constitutionalism from the perspectives of those who especially stand to benefit from constitutional provisions, particularly social and economic rights, and their enforcement.
Understanding and strengthening links among constitutional texts, judicial enforcement mechanisms, and on-the-ground realities is particularly crucial in this time of heightened competition over economic and social resources.
(The wonderful photo below is of women’s rights advocates at a Women's Legal Rights Program. It is from the IWRP Scrapbook. The women shown are (from left) Mmatshilo Motsei, Bete Mathabela, Sizakele Hlatshwayo, Doo Aphane, and Susan Bazilli.)
(The wonderful photo below is of women’s rights advocates at a Women's Legal Rights Program. It is from the IWRP Scrapbook. The women shown are (from left) Mmatshilo Motsei, Bete Mathabela, Sizakele Hlatshwayo, Doo Aphane, and Susan Bazilli.)
