Fear of being called racist deters agencies from intervening in forced marriages

Evidence

Repeating the sentiment expressed by Unni Wikan, an inset box in the SBS document presenting their position quotes a survivor of a forced marriage: ‘They are afraid of interfering in the culture and being called racist.’ For SBS the multiculturalists treat racial-minority women in a way that they would not treat white women, that is, ignoring the violence directed against them in the interest of respecting culture. Multiculturalism is also blamed for the support given by the Home Office to the idea of mediation for women in forced marriages, an option SBS categorically rejects and which prompted the resignation of its representative Hannah Siddiqui from the Home Office Working Group. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 329

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: the dialectic between accusations of racism and abandonment of minority women — a critique from both the anti-immigration right and the feminist left.
• ADDENDUM: Connects to ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ in that both show moral rhetoric used to police ‘backward’ Others — here the parallel is mediation/paternalism as the soft-liberal face of the same dynamic.