Constitution-Making in a Time of Cholera: Women and the 1991 Colombian Constitution

Abstract

Does law imitate life or does life imitate law? Constitution-making is a time for asking the larger questions about law and life, about what a society is and what it wants to become. As women and other marginalized groups demand to have their voices heard in contemporary constitution-making, new questions are being asked, and views about the very nature of constitutionalism are changing. In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, U.S. constitutional advisers are participating in the drafting of new constitutions around the world. Although such sharing of knowledge and experience can be important, sharing must be a two-way process. It is a particularly appropriate time to reflect, not just on what U.S. constitutional scholars can contribute to this contemporary flood of constitution-making, but also on what we can learn from other countries' constitutional experiences. As such a reflection, this article focuses on the recent Colombian constitutional process as a setting for examining questions about how, if at all, women's interests can be advanced through constitution-making.