Minority Women, Human Rights, and Cultures in the Multicultural Discourse

This chapter examines women’s human rights within the frame of multicultural theories. By way of examining the most crucial challenges faced by women in the exercise of their cultural rights within and outside the minority group of belonging, the chapter will analyze the peculiar status of minority women living in Western societies, taking into account minority women belonging to the so-called minorities by will with a specific reference to ethnic and racial minorities and indigenous communities. A major focus of the chapter will be devoted to an investigation of the responses to this problem of selected European and non-European states (e.g. Italy, France, the UK, the United States, and Canada) from a constitutional, comparative, and supranational perspective, relying on a legislative and case-law analysis. In the given examples, Western states’ reactions to cultural practices involving displays of religious symbols and clothing in the public sphere and the realization of harmful practices and contemporary forms of slavery will be highlighted. At the outset of the analysis, the chapter wishes to contribute to the ongoing debate on minority women’s rights in the Western reality by arguing in favor of the need to include and boost the concepts of intersectionality and empowerment in the broader women’s human rights discourse as a guiding principle for legislators and courts.