Gender equality and cultural claims: testing incompatibility through analysis of UK policies on minority ‘cultural practices’ 1997-2007 Moira Dustin Gender Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science Degree of PhD UMI Number: U615669 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615669 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 8% of chapter 3 and 25% of chapter 4 appeared in a previously published paper I co­ authored with my supervisor: ‘UK Initiatives on Forced Marriage: Regulation, Dialogue and Exit’ by Anne Phillips and Moira Dustin, Political Studies, October 2004, vol 52, pp531-551.1 was responsible for most of the empirical research in the paper. Apart from this, I confirm that the work presented in the thesis is my own. Moira Dustin i/la ^SL. 3 Many thanks to Anne Phillips, and also to family, friends and colleagues for their support and advice. ' h e $ £ Snlisl'i ibraryo* Political mo Economic Soenoe 4 Abstract Debates about multiculturalism attempt to resolve the tension that has been identified in Western societies between the cultural claims of minorities and the liberal values of democracy and individual choice. Earlier writing on multiculturalism was criticised for a failure to recognise the centrality of gender and women’s symbolic role in debates about culture; more recent feminist analysis has placed gender at the centre of multicultural debate. The risk is that cultural minorities are now characterised and problematised almost entirely through the unacceptable attitudes to women held by some of their members. From this perspective, gender equality and cultural rights are irreconcilable. While earlier writing on multiculturalism did indeed fail to address the experiences of minoritized women, approaches that take gender as their starting point can be criticised for - at times - resulting in a discourse that feeds cultural stereotypes and serves reactionary agendas. This alienates the very women it is intended to empower, forcing them to make an unreasonable and impossible choice between their cultural identity and their gender rights. I argue that the assumption of a necessary conflict between gender equality and cultural rights is based on a false and simplistic conception of ‘culture’. A more sophisticated analysis is provided by writers, including Uma Narayan, Avtah Brah, Leti Volpp and Madhavi Sunder, who challenge the assumption that cultures (and religions) are homogenous and stable units. This thesis takes their work forward by locating it in a UK context and asking to what extent it is practical or possible for policy makers, activists and service- providers to deploy this more satisfactory approach when working for and with vulnerable minoritized women. It does this through an analysis of three ‘cultural practices’ identified as problematic and addressed in public policy between 1997 and 2007: forced marriage, female genital mutilation or cutting, and ‘honour’ crimes. 5 Contents Page number Chapter 1. Early multiculturalism 8 1.1 Introduction 8 1.2 T erminology 13 1.3 Multiculturalism 15 1.4 Will Kymlicka’s theory of multicultural citizenship 18 1.5 Chandran Kukathas * benign neglect 21 1.6 Conclusion 24 1.7 Thesis outline 25 Chapter 2. Multiculturalism and feminism 29 2.1 Introduction 29 2.2 Liberal feminist perspectives 29 2.3 The rights of minorities within minorities 34 2.4 Alternative approaches 40 2.5 Conclusion 46 Chapter 3. Multiculturalism in the UK 48 3.1 Introduction 48 3.2 Immigration and race relations 49 3.2.1 Immigration policies 49 3.2.2 Assimilation 51 3.2.3 Integration 52 3.2.4 Multiculturalism 52 3.2.5 Community cohesion 55 3.2.6 From race to culture 59 3.3 Gendered policy before 1997 65 3.4 Conclusion 73 Chapter 4. Forced marriage 75 4.1 Introduction 75 4.2 Policy initiatives after 1997 75 4.3 Immigration measures 87 6 4.4 Analysis of measures 92 4.5 Conclusion 98 Chapter 5. Female genital cutting 101 5.1 Introduction 101 5.2 Terminology 101 5.3 Definitions 103 5.4 The diversity of genital cutting 105 5.5 Historical and global developments 106 5.6 Debates about female genital cutting 107 5.6.1 Necessity 107 5.6.2 Health 109 5.6.3 Sexuality 110 5.6.4 Human rights 112 5.7 Inconsistency and the ‘arrogant perception’ 113 5.8 Strategies for ‘eradication’ 124 5.9 Female genital cutting in the UK 128 5.10 Conclusion 145 Chapter 6. ‘Honour’ based violence 147 6.1 Introduction 147 6.2 Analysis o f‘honour’ violence 148 6.3 Strategies in the UK 158 6.4 Criminal cases 166 6.4.1 Shabir Hussain 170 6.4.2 Shazad Ali Naz, Shakeela Naz, Iftikhar Ali Naz 171 6.4.3 Faqir Mohammed 172 6.5 Conclusion 177 Chapter 7. Culture, ethnicity or religion? 179 7.1 Introduction 179 7 7.2 Religion and culture in multicultural theory 182 7.3 Theoretical models: Bhikhu Parekh 189 7.4 Theoretical models: Martha Nussbaum 192 7.5 The public/private dichotomy 196 7.6 Alternative models 198 7.7 Experiences in the UK 203 7.8 Conclusion 216 Chapter 8. Conclusion 221 8.1 Introduction 221 8.2 Discourses 222 8.3 Policies 227 8.4 Strategic concerns 230 8.5 Positive developments 236 8.5.1 Working in partnership and consultation 236 8.5.2 An integrated equality agenda 241 8.5.3 Developing a human rights ‘culture’ 243 8.6 Conclusion 246 Bibliography 248 Appendix: UK legislation relating to gender, race and religion 270 Chapter 1. Early multiculturalism 1.1 Introduction What should a liberal democratic government do when the traditions and practices of a cultural minority within the society violate the rights of female members of that minority, in particular, such rights as would warrant protection by the government of the larger liberal society?1 Debates about multiculturalism seek to resolve the tension that has been identified in Western societies between the cultural claims of minorities and the liberal values of democracy and individual choice. The assumption is that new minority groups do not share the values and lifestyles of the majority society and that this causes conflict and a lack of social cohesion. Multicultural theory often addresses specific dilemmas, such as a minority community’s claim to practice polygamy in a state that outlaws the practice, and asks what is a just basis for reconciling these different positions. Possible approaches have included Chandran Kukathas’ theory of benign neglect and Will Kymlicka’s theory of multicultural citizenship. But multicultural theory has been heavily criticised for an early failure to address gender concerns. Feminist writers have argued that the early literatures fail to identify the central role of gender in debates about culture. Women have a symbolic role in cultural identity, and it is typically practices that affect women and girls that are asserted as emblematic of minority cultures. It is these practices - for example, forced marriage, female genital mutilation or cutting, and so-called ‘honour’ crimes - that have therefore become emblematic of the tension between majority and minorities. While multiculturalist writing in its early days failed adequately to address gender concerns, today this is no longer the case. In fact, the danger is that cultural minorities are problematised almost entirely through the unacceptable attitudes to women (as well as homosexuals) that they are assumed to hold. Gender has now taken a central position in debates about multiculturalism. Feminists and human rights activists see women’s rights undermined by conservative cultural and religious minorities around the world. Some fear that what 1 Friedman, 2003, p!79. 9 are known as ‘cultural relativist’ arguments will lead to the view that only ‘insiders’ can condemn a country’s or culture’s practices, while ‘outsiders’ must withhold judgement to avoid charges of cultural imperialism. Many argue instead for a universal human rights framework within which practices oppressive to women are treated as illegitimate regardless of who perpetrates them, and national governments and the international community taking action to eliminate such practices wherever they take place and whoever the perpetrator. This thesis does not favour a position of cultural relativism, but argues that in some of its manifestations, a gender-focused discourse does indeed have overtones of cultural imperialism and alienates the very women it is intended to empower. To avoid this, it is necessary to consider who is speaking and on behalf of whom. It is also necessary to consider the context in which judgements about cultural practices are made: in Western democracies where immigration is a permanent subject of media polemic and racism remains prevalent, there is a danger of reinforcing ethnocentric stereotypes of ‘backward’ cultures, while treating the persistence of gender inequality and oppressive practices within the majority as atypical of ‘white’ society. Conceptualisations of culture are crucial here: those who identify an inevitable conflict between gender equality and culture claims often imply that minority cultures in Western societies are clearly defined groups of people who share the same language, values, beliefs and behaviours and have done for centuries. There is a tendency to credit culture with defining, even controlling, the behaviour of members of minority ethnic or religious groups.