Gender Equality and Immigrant Integration: Honor Killing and Forced Marriage Debates in the Netherlands, Germany, and Britain
Women's Studies International Forum 41 (2013) 204–214 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif Gender equality and immigrant integration: Honor killing and forced marriage debates in the Netherlands, Germany, and Britain Gökçe Yurdakul a,⁎,1, Anna C. Korteweg b,1 a Humboldt University Berlin, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Diversity and Social Conflict, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany b University of Toronto, Department of Sociology, 725 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5S 2J4, Canada article info synopsis Available online 24 August 2013 The past decade has seen a surge in media and policy debates on honor-based violence, honor killing, and forced marriage in the Netherlands, Germany, and Britain. Drawing on political debates and policy responses to these forms of violence, we analyze how understandings of “gender equality” inform distinct approaches to immigrant integration. The Dutch case shows how the idea of gender equality can sometimes be used to include Muslim communities in the larger population, by generating policy responses that are more likely to position immigrants as full members of society. Alternatively, as the German case most clearly illustrates, the idea of gender equality can inform the stigmatization of Muslim communities and lead to exclusionary immigration policies. In Britain, gender equality discourses stand in tension with discourses on race, with some NGO's accusing government of failing women out of fear of being accused of racism. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction agenda and related policies. However, often “gender equal- ity” remains undefined. Instead, the term is used to signify Over the past decade, the issue of honor-based violence something that Muslim communities lack, without specify- (including honor killing and forced marriage) has entered ing what this lack consists of.
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