Women are obviously protected by the full range of rights guaranteed in the new Constitution - the rights to life, dignity, privacy and others. But they receive specific protection in section 9, entitled "Equality". It says:

"(3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth."

The prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of gender, sex, pregnancy and marital status is clearly intended to protect women. The grounds "sex", which is a biological feature, and "gender", a social artefact, are both included - perhaps unnecessarily. But the result is that this section leaves no doubt that no unfair discrimination based on any feature of being a woman will be tolerated.