Running Head MULTICULTURALISM BAD FOR WOMEN

Multiculturalism Bad For Women



Multiculturalism Bad For Women

Introduction

Multiculturalism has been a very important issue of concern in the west in the past few years. Debates and arguments have been going on over whether it is a good idea to actually practice multiculturalism. Politicians have been supposing that minority groups will merge into majority groups and become part of them without any troubles. However this has not been happening. Minority groups, especially the women in them, have been having difficulty in diffusing in the majority groups. "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?" makes numerous claims and assumptions about whether multiculturalism is bad for women in cultures. I believe that we should leave the cultures alone without giving them special treatment nor discriminating against them but rather enlightening and educating them.(Boucher,2003)

Multiculturalists see that every culture is important and deserves to be respected and receive special treatment. Miority cultures should not be degraded nor extinguished, then become part of a majority culture. If a culture has a problem, this problem should be targeted and treated without destroying the culture itself. "Think of culture as a field of crops. You've got the crops in the field, and you've got weeds. You have to get rid of the weeds. Do you kill everything growing in the field to get at the weeds--sterilization--or do you just try to get rid of the weeds, leaving the crops to grow? If there is racism or another problem in a culture, you target that problem. You don't get rid of the whole culture" .(Burgess,1995,369) "Part of my culture is improving my culture.That means solving problems in my culture like, for example, racism. It doesn't mean destroying my culture. My culture has a right to exist, just like every other culture. The plain fact is that we can learn about and respect other cultures without destroying our own" .(Engster,1995,577) I see that people should not discriminate others from minority cultures and at the same time not give them and extra treatment. Certain people should make a group for the purpose of educating the cultures so they may slowly and gradually change their wrong habits and practices without changing the whole culture.(Okin,1997)

Discussion

Multiculturalism has come to refer to (a) the state of a society or the world in which there exists numerous distinct ethnic and cultural groups seen to be politically relevant; and (b) a program or policy advocating or promoting such a society. The first is a factual claim, the second evaluative. But like so many claims in the social sciences, the empirical claim involves much more than empirical judgements, and the evaluative claim is contested by as many who promote it (and certainly does not follow from the empirical claim). Controversy has raged over what the best response to the fact of cultural diversity in the world might be, and it is not too much to suggest that the social and political issues raised by multiculturalism are among the most pressing and important for the new ...