Multicultural Feminism: Cultural Concerns

Abstract

‘Multicultural feminism’ refers to a literature and practice of feminism, developed primarily by Third World women, that parallels but also questions liberal feminism, which is largely a product of the West. Like liberal feminism, multicultural feminism seeks the betterment of the lives of women; unlike the former, it does not see that the path to it is the same for all women, or that it rests on a strict equality of role or function with men, or that it hinges primarily on the advancement of individual human rights. Instead, multicultural feminism emphasizes empowerment for women within the context of their particular societies and cultures, which are seen as complex and multivalent, and therefore capable of evolution. Contextual dimensions that multicultural feminism emphasizes include histories of external as well as internal domination and subordination, cultural legacies of empowerment alongside those of disempowerment, specific effects of the present global economy on differently situated women. At the same time, multicultural feminism rejects nationalistic narratives that elevate or falsify tradition to suppress the real needs of women.