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United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo (ICES) launched the 2004 Global Human Development Report: "Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World" at the Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations Auditorium recently. Following are the comments made on the report by Ambika Satkunanathan, Senior Researcher, ICES.

Continued from November 2

ALTHOUGH the state has viewed multiculturalism as the solution to managing problematic relations between communities in multi-ethnic, multi-religious states, it has been argued that multiculturalism hardens and essentializes identities and deepens ethnic cleavages and differences by its perception of identities as fixed and bounded.

Thus, right groups and other entities seeking solutions to the problems of social exclusion and discrimination need to study different forms of multiculturalism and their varying effects to formulate strategies that would ensure that the form of multiculturalism practised challenges dominant ideas instead of becoming a "tag of ethnic identity and a license for separatism".

I would now like to focus on the position of women in identity politics and new nationalist movements and the need to ensure that multicultural and other policies that recognise group rights do not infringe upon the rights of women. In order to do this we need to look back a little at the history of nationalist movements.

Nationalist movements that mobilize women on a platform that includes the empowerment of women as part of the broader libration agenda have used women to further their nationalist agendas. This has nearly always resulted in further marginalising women and essentialising their identities.

Although nationalist movements included women in their struggles during the colonial period, they reconfigured their roles and relegated them to the private sphere. The public sphere was out of bounds to these women who were asked to contribute to the nationalist struggle by preserving the sanctity of the private sphere.

The inclusion of women in the nationalist movement was to counter colonial claims of subordination of women due to backward tradition and culture.

A claim that was often used by the British to prove the incapacity of the natives to govern themselves.

The colonial state therefore sought to improve the situation of women through social reform. These efforts, which consisted of reform of traditional laws, sometimes resulted in robbing women of their traditional rights while failing to address the subordination of women and structural inequality.

Similarly, present fundamentalist movements use women in their practice of divisive identity politics. For example, the RSS in India de-sexualises the Hindu woman whereby she becomes both the mother and the 'rapable' woman who needs the protection of the Hindu state, while the Muslim woman is sexualized and symbolizes the enemy who should be dominated.

Hence, today, the post-colonial state and rights movements should look beyond the issue as solely a problem of culture and tradition.

Multiculturalism too may place women in a precarious position. In multicultural states most often communities retain power over areas considered private, i.e. marriage, divorce and other issues which relate to the determination of group membership.

This is done to enable the group to have power over the construction of collective identity, which is thought to be important for group survival. The paradox is that while empowering certain groups, multiculturalism, subordinates certain members of these groups.

Accommodation of group/community rights can therefore lead to "multicultural vulnerability", where existing hierarchies in communities foster the violation of the rights of individuals who are in a vulnerable position.

Further, multiculturalism entrenches the public-private divide through its acknowledgement of the public status of the identity group and disregard of the status of individuals within these identity groups.

Multiculturalism therefore focuses on injustices in the public sphere. Yet, it is in the private sphere that most women experience discrimination as communities continue to define gender roles and regulate the lives of women. Giving power in areas such as family law to identity groups most often places burden on certain members of the group, namely women. This is the "paradox of multicultural vulnerability."

The manner in which multiculturalism views individuals is also problematic as it begins by locating them as part of a particular community, which limits their identity to their cultural group. This approach discounts the fact that women have multiple identities, and are not solely defined by their membership of a particular cultural group.

It is through family law communities regulate the conduct of women, who are viewed by the group as the bearers of cultural values and who through their reproductive activities are mainly responsible for the recreation of the group. This means their freedom to marry, divorce etc. will be limited and controlled by the group to ensure membership boundaries are maintained.

Tesawalamai the customary law applicable to the Tamil inhabitants of the Northern province of Sri Lanka is a case that illustrates the tension between community rights and women's rights. According to Tesawalamai the woman does not have absolute power of disposition of her immovable property but requires the written consent of her husband.

The husband during the marriage remains the manager of her property. He is regarded as the sole and permanent attorney of his wife - it is thought that the wife's persons "is merged with that of the husband's".

If the husband refuses to give consent the woman can obtain consent from the Family Court in the district in which the woman resides or in which the property is situated.

Due to the conflict in the North many households are female-headed. This means that in the absence of their husbands women are unable to dispose property. If the husband is missing the woman will not be able to obtain a death certificate and her only option would be to request the courts to give consent to a property transaction. Here too the woman will face many obstacles.

As the court cannot give consent for future property transactions the woman will have to approach the court every time she wishes to deal with her property, which means she will have to incur additional costs relating to lawyer's fees etc; and where courts are not functioning she will have no remedy. In addition, the husband's right to sell, mortgage or lease the wife's property disadvantages the woman economically.

Considering the socio-economic status of women and the state of the Sri Lankan legal system, it is unlikely the woman will be able to obtain compensation if the husband sells the property against her wishes or without her knowledge.

While reform is urgent we have to also keep in mind that women from besieged communities who might have been subjected to extensive state controls due to their race, ethnicity, class or a similar factor may take refuge in the private sphere of their ethnic/racial/class communities.

Their reluctance to support legal reform that impacts on their particular communities highlights the tension between individual rights and the rights of the community. While supporting diversity and right of communities to protect their culture we should ensure that the rights of women are respected and they have the right to make decisions that affect their lives and families.

Finally, I would like to draw a few broad conclusions based on the UNDP Report. The report reiterates the need to recognise multiple identities in formulating solutions to the demands of groups for recognition of their ethnicity or religion or language. It emphasizes the significance of choice and the opportunity to choose how one lives, which can be achieved only by respecting equity in the pursuit of freedom.

Most importantly, the report brings home one important fact; that strategies to secure the rights of groups and promote and protect cultural diversity and liberty should ensure that international human rights standards and norms and not violated. In the words of Radhika Coomaraswamy, 'being sensitive to cultural relativism cannot imply putting hard-won battles on human rights up for grabs'.

Concluded

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