Clash of interests: cultural rights vs. women's rights?

It can be argued that it is particularly women, from many (non- Western) nations that are not full equals under the law: they do not have the same property rights as men, the same rights of association, mobility and religious liberty. In such position, these women are indeed the victims of the cultures that they belong to. Unfortunately, their migration to the Western countries accentuates the same problem that these women experienced domestically. Research finds that in many Western multicultural settings it is not the universal human rights framework that is applied to women’s rights issues, but rather the local communal law. For these women marriage, divorce, custody of children, inheritance, financial and so on, are decided within their community and not according to national laws and practices.1 However, this question of the clash between the cultural rights (that justify practice of communal laws in multicultural settings) and women’s rights is not easily resolved. This paper will focus on the conflict around the question, what should be done when the claims of minority cultures or religions clash with the norm of gender equality that is at least formally endorsed by liberal states? In order to address the issues as well as its root causes approaches by a number of multicultural theorists, including Susan Moller Okin (1998), Ayeley Shachar (2001), Jeff Spinner-Halev (2001), Chandran Kukathas (2001) and Marilyn Friedman (2003) will be examined in the light of my own research findings on the experiences of minority women from Middle-Eastern and African communities in South Australia. Finally some potential preconditions for the resolution of the clash between minority rights and women’s rights will be recommended. Refereed/Peer-reviewed