Faith in the state? Asian women’s struggles for human rights in the U.K.

INTRODUCTION

This article draws on the experiences of predominantly South Asian women who approach Southall Black Sisters, whose lives encapsulate the contradictions facing many black and minority women in their struggle for survival and freedom in the U.K. The struggle for the rights of black and minority women in the U.K. is inextricably linked to the practice of multiculturalism. Indeed, it is impossible to discuss the one without discussing the other. A focus on multiculturalism also provides a useful means of understanding the complexities, tensions and dilemmas with which Asian and other minority women in the U.K. have grappled, in their quest for human rights. The key question is whether the state’s approach to race relations and minority communities has hindered or enhanced their struggle for rights, particularly in relation to the family where they are most vulnerable to abuse, violence and unequal treatment. Experience shows that at its worst, multiculturalism has colluded in the silencing of women’s voices. But now, an even greater danger looms: the government promotion of the faith agenda (a Blairite initiative) and the drift from multiculturalism to “multi-faithism” provides an opportunity for fundamentalists and religionists to set an agenda that poses a major threat to the human rights of Asian and other minority women. The need for vigilance and activism is now more urgent than ever.

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Feminist Legal Studies (April, 2008) 16:9–36