A/HRC/23/50 efforts.49 This transnational constitutional pattern can be attributed to ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the concluding observations of the Committee, together with campaigning by women’s activists. 79. In order to ensure effective access to justice for women, the constitutional requirements for gender equality should be specific.50 Research on constitutional provisions that specifically grant or protect the rights of women has shown that while women’s protection clauses cannot be shown to be the exclusive cause of improved legal protection of women, they are associated with gains in women’s rights. 80. Model examples of constitutional design can be found in recent constitutions in different regions. Since 1981, in many countries in the Western region, constitutions have been amended to include provisions permitting the use of temporary special measures to promote the participation of women in political and public life. One recently established constitution in the Maghreb confers systematically, throughout its provisions, constitutional rights expressly on women as well as men, and seeks to ensure parity between them; in Latin America and the Caribbean there is a constitution which contains approximately 34 references to the rights of women, including the right to political participation.51 81. The inclusion of any clause in the constitution that derogates from the guarantee of gender equality, by deferring to contradictory precepts in other orders of justice such as traditional and religious principles, undermines the equality standards of international human rights law. Similarly, constitutions that have an override clause, which excludes plural legal systems, religious or customary courts or alternative dispute settlement procedures from the obligation to respect the gender equality guarantee, violate the equality standards of the Convention. Many of the countries that have derogation or exclusion clauses in their constitutions have entered reservations to the human rights treaties, and these reservations have been addressed within the concluding observations of the treaty bodies, which have required their removal. 82. Effective constitutions for gender equality and non-discrimination provide clarity in a hierarchy of competing laws, legal provisions which establish compliance with universal standards of human rights, and coherence throughout national legal frameworks. There are good practices to be found in different regions, where recognition of the autonomy of customary or indigenous communities is nevertheless subject to the requirement that they respect women’s human rights. For instance, in the sub-Saharan region, one constitutional provision mandates that “laws, cultures, customs and traditions which are against the dignity, welfare or interest of women or any other marginalised group … or which undermine their status, are prohibited by this Constitution”, and in Latin America and the Caribbean one constitution provides far-reaching recognition of both gender equality and indigenous rights, guaranteeing women’s participation and decision-making in indigenous governance and justice systems.52 49 50 51 52 18 Martha Morgan, “How constitution-making, interpretation, and implementation can contribute to protecting and promoting women’s rights”, remarks to the Working Group, October 2012. See Laura E. Lucas, “Does gender specificity in constitutions matter?” Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law, vol. 20 (2009). See the keynote address of the Vice-Chairperson of the Working Group at the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women general discussion on access to justice, held on 18 February 2013 in Geneva. Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/OthersActivities.aspx. Ibid.