Reflections on Culture, Rights & Violence Against Women

Culture Women & Violence: Debunking & rejecting cultural justifications Forum Istanbul 26th 2007 Farida Shaheed

Culture in the contestation of womens human rights

Practices violating womens rights defended as culture by community leaders State representatives give culture, religion, or both, for

reservations to international instruments failures to act upon the commitments made

Excusing specific forms of gender-based violence & state inaction as culture

Concern expressed by U.N. Special Rapporteurs on VAW

Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy Dr. Yakin Erturk

CEDAW Committee Experts Other UN bodies e.g. Human Rights Committee UN General Assembly Resolution 30 Jan 2007: Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women On the UN agenda needs further strengthening

Human rights activists tend to see culture

Essentially as obstacle for the achievement of rights As a given: something immutable and static Existing without human agency Relevant to only some people and communities

South countries, minorities in North countries

Sub-text: culture is only the problem of some groups, communities and societies exoticised others, not modern Question: Why is it that culture is understood to be linked to so-called honour crimes but not domestic violence?

So what is culture?
The food we eat, the songs we sing, the clothes wear But also A world view that defines our sense of self

Who we are, who we are not, who is not us What we can do and what we cannot What is appropriate for girls/women, for boys/men What is not appropriate, prohibited and so should be penalised

And the rules of belonging

Culture therefore exists everywhere

Whose Culture?

No society is devoid of culture Every society has many cultures, Only one dominant culture

BIG QUESTION Who defines the dominant culture? Those with power

Talking of culture is talking of POWER

Gender-based violence regardless of its form, time or place, is always legitimised by culture because
Despite multiple cultures, the dominant culture is patriarchal Patriarchal culture validates violence as acceptable, even desirable, attribute of masculinity It devalues women When violence is considered legitimate;

Acts of violence against individuals who are devalued by the dominant culture (women + other marginalised/less powerful groups) become even more acceptable Acts transform into the norm, remain unquestioned, spread a blanket of impunity

Culture not = Religion

Determining factor of womens oppression not religion per se, but the systems & structures of patriarchy However, religion is a powerful tool to justify inequality Patriarchy = prism for religious interpretation Religion = a jealously guarded male monopoly the world over Patriarchal systems & structures essentially the same in Muslim societies as elsewhere, but Articulation differs in its Muslim veneer

Law not neutral, not devoid of culture

Law written by (some) men Reflects experience & needs of men Interpreted & enforced largely by men Whose cultural beliefs often negate existing provisions for women in courts, in police stations and in prisons Example Pakistan of grave & sudden provocation clause to reduce sentences

introduced by British colonial rulers, deleted 1997 as unIslamic Brought back by judges in their rulings

Who speaks for the community?

Problematics of thriving mature democracies accepting unelected leaders as spokespersons UK: Certain self-proclaimed community leaders demand to be accepted as the voice of all Muslims, or of all Sikhs or of all Hindus, etc. NOT elected by the constituency they claim to represent these leaders are still accepted by the state and media as the authentic voice Why is it that everywhere those claiming religious leadership (whether fundamentalist or not) are given special space by media, state and others? Why are contesting and differing voices not accepted as quite authentic?

To effectively remove the cultural justifications of gender-based violence We need to overturn to the culture of violence promoted by patriarchy In our struggle need to remember: No such thing as pure culture
Culture is constantly (re)created affirmed or changed through contestations in society

Greatest Tradition = reinvention of tradition So we need to develop, celebrate & assert our own culture and fight for diversity and plurality of voices Andtake a lesson from ecology: Monocultures kill the soil and lead only to death