Feminists frame state reluctance to intervene as multiculturalism trumping women’s rights

Evidence

The story that ‘we’ modernized and ‘they’ did not sets the stage for a clash between multiculturalism and feminism. Many feminists have understood Western states’ reluctance to condemn practices of violence against Muslim women, practices including female genital mutilation, forced marriages, and honour killings, as due to the triumph of multiculturalism over universal values. Simply put, the logic is this: in liberal democracies all citizens are treated equally. This means that minority cultures must be respected (multiculturalism). However, minority cultures include practices that are harmful to women. States often choose to respect culture over respecting women’s human rights. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 246

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the multiculturalism-versus-feminism logic that the whole chapter argues against.