Conflicts Between Minority Women and Traditional Structures: International Law, Rights and Culture

Abstract

International feminists are divided over how to deal with discrimination perpetuated against women by traditional cultures and systems of governance. These spheres cannot be viewed as simple tools of patriarchy. In order to confront such issues, inno vative strategies are needed, and this article offers a new 'expanded integrationist' approach. It applies this approach to the conflicts between the rights of aboriginal women and the suggested forms of aboriginal self-government in Canada. These con flicts reveal the deeper tensions of different visions of culture and society, and require both creative, multifaceted solutions, and difficult reinterpretations of the meanings of 'rights' and 'culture'.