Feminist discontents against multiculturalism: The need for critical multiculturalism

Abstract

Multiculturalism and feminism both contest the undifferentiated notion of liberal democracy and its overemphasis on individual rights; however, the latter does not conform with the special group rights advocated by multiculturalism. This article explores the tension between the feminist idea of gender equality and the group-specific rights endorsed by multiculturalism. The claim of group-specific rights in multiculturalism does not consider internal gender inequalities. Hence, the article critically analyzes some cultural practices to demonstrate how culture is gendered and how multicultural advocacy of group-specific rights is insensitive to gender discrimination within cultural groups. It employs an integrative literature review as a methodology to assess the theory of multiculturalism and draws a feminist perspective to suggest a critical model of multiculturalism. It is concluded that multiculturalism is not sufficient to combat patriarchal repression embodied in the cultural groups. Thus, the article further seeks to forge a form of multiculturalism that is critical to its own shortcomings and is ready to accommodate gender equality.