10_FShaheed_ppt

8/13/2019 10_FShaheed_ppt

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Reflections on

Culture, Rights & Violence

Against Women

Culture Women & Violence: Debunking & rejectingcultural justifications Forum Istanbul 26th2007

Farida Shaheed


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Culture in the contestation of

womens human rights Practices violating womens rights defended

as culture by community leaders

State representatives give culture, religion, orboth, for

reservations to international instruments

failures to act upon the commitments made


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Excusing specific forms of gender-basedviolence & state inactionas cultureConcern 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 ofviolence against women

On the UN agenda needs further strengthening


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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 somegroups, communities and societiesexoticised

others, not modernQuestion:

Why is it that culture is understood to be linked toso-called honour crimes but not domestic violence?


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So what is culture?

The food we eat, the songs we sing, the clotheswear

But also

A world view that defines our sense of self

Who we are, who we are not, who is not us

And the rules of belonging

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

Culture therefore exists everywhere


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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


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Gender-based violenceregardless of its form, time or place, is

alwayslegitimised by culture because Despite multiple cultures, the dominant culture is

patriarchal

Patriarchal culture validates violenceas

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 + othermarginalised/less powerful groups) become evenmore acceptable

Acts transform into the norm, remain unquestioned,spread a blanket of impunity


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Culture not = Religion

Determining factor of womens oppression notreligion 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

samein Muslim societies as elsewhere, but

Articulation differs in its Muslim veneer


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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 policestations 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


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Who speaks for the community?

Problematics of thriving mature democraciesaccepting unelected leaders as spokespersons

UK: Certain self-proclaimed community leadersdemand to be accepted as thevoice of all Muslims,or of all Sikhs or of all Hindus, etc.

NOT elected by the constituency they claim torepresent these leaders are still accepted by thestate and media as the authentic voice

Whyis it that everywhere those claiming religiousleadership (whether fundamentalist or not) are given

special space by media, state and others? Why are contesting and differing voices not

accepted as quite authentic?


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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)createdaffirmed or changedthrough contestations in society

Greatest Tradition = reinvention of tradition

So we need to develop, celebrate & assert our

own culture and fight for diversity and plurality ofvoices

Andtake a lesson from ecology:

Monocultures kill the soil and lead only to death

10_FShaheed_ppt

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