The clash between religious or cultural autonomy and gender equality is a pervasive problem for constitutional law, one that arises in connection with claims of immunity from gender equality provisions on the grounds of cultural or religious freedom. I will describe how the resulting conflict has been addressed in international law and in the decisions of various constitutional courts and propose a theoretical basis for structuring the hierarchy of values to resolve this issue in a constitutional framework of human rights. The religious paradigm was replaced by secularism, communitarianism by individualism and status by contract.