Why multiculturalism is good for women

Abstract

Two emancipatory political philosophies have for the past two decades had an uneasy relationship with one another: multiculturalism and feminism. The late Susan Moller Okin in her seminal paper, “Is multiculturalism is bad for women?” largely initiated this feminist pushback against multiculturalism. Okin argued that giving ethnic minorities special group-differentiated rights based on their cultural membership comes into conflict with the rights of the women within these minorities. Also in the realm of politics itself multiculturalism (and its concrete policies concerning minority rights and accommodations) continues to be pitted against the rights and interests of women. Indeed, these concerns are often thought to be a central part of the multiculturalism’s crisis or, even, demise. But I will argue that this verdict is too simplistic. While I will not take issue with the fact that multiculturalism and multicultural policy on occasions can and should be pitted against women’s rights, I will offer three arguments to challenge the overall tension between these political philosophies. First, I will show that a one-sided focus on the problems with multiculturalist policy for feminists distorts how alternative political frameworks to multiculturalism, such as cosmopolitanism and liberal nationalism can also be bad for women. Second, I will show that much gender emancipation and equality sought by minority women, is both identified and advocated for in terms of their cultural membership and community. Third, and finally, I will argue for the epistemic value of cultural diversity for feminist imagination and problem-solving.