Gender and Constitutional Monarchy in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Constitutional monarchies are understudied as institutions that may contribute to the maintenance of a system of constitutional government. Even less well studied, however, is the relationship between constitutional monarchies and norms of gender justice. This article surveys this potential relationship, and notes five broad potential connections: the connection between formal rules surrounding the operation of the monarchy and norms of gender equality; the dynamics surrounding change, or non-change, in these rules; the gendered role(s) played by monarchs in various countries, and how those roles may reflect or even promote broader social change in attitudes towards female leadership; how monarchs have exercised their powers so as to promote, or obstruct, broader campaigns for gender justice; and the relationship between feminist commitments and an interest in the style and/or family choices of monarchs. It further suggests the benefits of a comparative dialogue on these questions that directly connects Europe, Asia, and the Pacific, as well as more future scholarship on these and related questions of the relationship between gender- based change in the realms of the symbolic and practical.

Keywords

• monarchy
• constitutions
• change
• stability
• democracy
• hierarchy
• gender
• feminism