Culture Versus Women'' Rights Conflicts and Multicultural Compromises

This paper develops a framework for explaining why the implementation of culture versus women's rights policies vary by drawing upon claims from the comparative politics, public policy, and political theory literature. I begin by explaining positive outcomes. I argue that the types of justice multicultural compromises deliver, to what extent, for whom, and why, vary according to political will and state capacity. I hypothesize that the strength of social movements, the openness of the public sphere, and the position of influential leaders in civil society shape the political will of policymakers to pressure the bureaucracy to implement the policy. Bureaucratic quality and performance, judicial independence, and the strength of institutions in the state are also crucial, as they constitute the state's capacity to enact the policy. I also discuss negative outcomes. I hypothesize that when intense collective action is necessary for passage a decline in collective action will occur. When the policy targets a specific group, state regulatory power and group reification will increase. When policymakers ignore inequalities within the group, I hypothesize that implementation of the policy will increase group inequality. If these outcomes are pervasive, I expect increased intergroup tensions and violence against women. The paper concludes with some preliminary findings from Canada, India, and South Africa that investigate these hypotheses