In Defence of Gender Equality? Comparing the Political Debates about Headscarves and Honor-Related Crimes in France and the Netherlands

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze political debates about headscarves andhonor-related crimes in France and the Netherlands. We seek to explainwhy and how France and the Netherlands have come to unevenly politicizeheadscarves and honor crimes. Moreover, we try to understand how theargument of gender equality is used by different actors in these policydebates. We argue that the agenda and demands of ethnic minority women'sorganizations are selectively included and bent to serve other,non-feminist agendas. Ethnic minority women's organizations and femaleethnic minority politicians have acted as agenda-setters, callingattention to marginalization, discrimination, and experiences ofviolence. Yet these issues were co-opted by (mainly) right-wingpoliticians to problematize the ``deviant{''} culture of minorities andpropose policies that further exclude them and paternalize them insteadof improving their situation.