How Far Has the World Come?

This chapter summarizes the evolution of constitutional protections against discrimination on the basis of gender, race/ethnicity, migration status, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability, and socioeconomic status, alongside protections for the rights to health and education, over the past 50 years. This chapter also reckons with some of the challenging questions that emerge across different equal rights areas. For example, how can courts and constitutions effectively address instances of discrimination that involve more than one facet of a person’s identity? How can countries design affirmative measures that effectively address past discrimination without exacerbating other disparities? Can—and should—constitutions address inequality in the private sphere? And in the absence of social and economic rights, what are the limits of protections against discrimination?