POSTMODERN CONSTITUTIONALISM AND LEGAL FEMINISM: PATHS TOWARDS SUBSTANTIAL EQUALITY AND INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY

Abstract

This article examines the emergence of feminist constitutionalism as a critical paradigm for democratic reconstruction in the postmodern context, emphasizing the role of gender hermeneutics in achieving substantive equality. Through a theoretical and comparative approach between Brazil and Italy, it investigates how both constitutional systems recognize and limit women’s rights to reproductive self-determination, political parity, and citizenship participation. Based on authors such as Christine Peter da Silva, Estefânia de Queiroz Barboza, Melina Girardi Fachin, Marilisa D’Amico, and Elettra Stradella, the study shows that legal neutrality inherited from liberal constitutionalism remains permeated by patriarchal and colonial structures. It argues that formal equality, by disregarding historical and intersectional inequalities, perpetuates a structural democratic deficit. The article therefore proposes the incorporation of a feminist and intersectional hermeneutics as a condition for the legitimacy of the Constitutional State, grounded in the principles of dignity, redistribution, and recognition. It concludes that feminist constitutionalism is not merely a critical legal theory but a political project of social transformation that redefines democracy as an inclusive and plural practice of justice.