62
E
UR
A
MERICA
the focus so far has been on mishaps and failures. Given how the
critic is fixated upon loopholes and misapplications, as opposed to
the proper working of these approaches, the criticism is skewed.
That is, the critic has all but ignored the successful cases and the
best practices.
Two issues are brought forward. The first is that by attending to
the specificities of local contexts democratic deliberations can
successfully resolve cases of multicultural accommodation, including
some cases of VAW. In response, it will be argued that success on this
front does not add value, because context-sensitive solutions worked
up from democratic deliberation do not mark an appreciable
improvement upon context-insensitive solutions. The second issue
concerns the best practices. It will be specified that the policy
implications of these approaches may in principle neglect, and have
indeed neglected in one case, the interest of personal autonomy. What
ends up being promoted in this case, and possible future cases, is the
opposite: the effect of temporary protection of a life of dependency
might result in the corrosion and, if left unchecked, the permanent loss
of individual agency. This is a major weakness; an alternative ought to
be attempted.
First, concentrating on the oft-cited cases, let us review the
solutions to the cases of honor killing, forced marriage, female genital
mutilation, and the wearing of headscarf, sometimes called veiling.
30
Consistent with the line of inquiry that Okin initiates, the question is:
whether, and
under what context
, would women
—
especially young
women
—
from ethnic cultural backgrounds be willing to express their
views about these cases (2005a: 85)? At minimum, a condition under
30
These are some of the “twelve practices” that “have aroused different degrees of
public concern in recent years,” as catalogued by Bhikhu Parekh (2006: 264-265).
For a discussion of other practices that include those found in the first nations of
Canada, ethnic groups in Britain, and tribal peoples of South Africa, see Deveaux
(2006: chaps. 5-7). For a discussion of the practice of sati, the divorce case of
Shah Bano, and arranged and forced marriages in Britain, see Mookherjee (2009:
chaps. 1-3). For a discussion of the “cultural defense” cases, the Santa Clara
Pueblo case, and the Mormon polygamy cases, see Song (2007: chaps. 4-6).
