Moira Dustin

Whose agenda Is It

Developments in Britain reflect a shift from a shallow but widely endorsed multiculturalism to a growing preoccupation with abuses of women in minority cultural groups. Four main issues have been debated in the media and have become the basis of either public policy or legal judgment: forced marriage, honour killing, female genital cutting and womens Islamic dress. The treatment of these issues has often been problematic, with discourses over culture tending to misrepresent minority cultural groups as monolithic entities, and initiatives to protect women becoming entangled with anti-immigration agendas. It has therefore proved hard to address abuses of women without simultaneously promoting stereotypes of culture. The most encouraging signs of resolving these tensions appear where there has been a prior history of womens activism, and a greater willingness on the part of government to draw groups into consultation. We argue that this offers a greater prospect of devising effective initiatives that do not set up multiculturalism in opposition to womens rights.

UK Initiatives on Forced Marriage: Regulation, Dialogue and Exit

The literature on feminism and multiculturalism has identified potential conflicts between the recognition of cultural diversity and securing womens equality. Three broad approaches to this dilemma have emerged in the practices of contemporary states: regulation, working with the communities, and exit. Each of these is apparent in current initiatives regarding forced marriage, but the overwhelming emphasis in the UK has been on enabling individuals to exit from the threat or reality of a forced marriage. In assessing these initiatives, this paper highlights the limitations of exit and the danger of moving towards immigration regulation as the preferred solution.

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in the UK Challenging the Inconsistencies

Debates about female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) have polarized opinion between those who see it as an abuse of women’s health and human rights, to be ‘eradicated’, and those who may or may not oppose the practice, but see a double standard on the part of western campaigners who fail to challenge other unnecessary surgical interventions — such as male circumcision or cosmetic surgery — in their own communities and cultures. This article interrogates these debates about FGM/C in the context of measures to reduce it in the UK over recent decades. It does not suggest that FGM/C is a legitimate practice, seeing it, rather, as an abuse of women’s and children’s rights that should be combated using a combination of measures. However, it argues that reduction strategies are undermined by inconsistencies in the law and the failure to back up the law with research and education.

Culture or masculinity? Understanding gender-based violence in the UK

Violence against women and girls from minority communities has been a focus for intervention in European countries for several decades. These initiatives have, however, tended to exist in isolation from strategies on violence against women and girls from majority groups. Taking the UK as a case study, this paper argues that when minorities are involved in gender-based violence, whether as victims or perpetrators, culture is problematised rather than masculinity in a way that is unhelpful in preventing these crimes.