Citizenship, Recognition and Justice

Abstract

Modern democracies are based on the principle of self-determination, which implies that all citizens are entitled to have a voice, ‘to not only be subject but the author of its laws’ (Benhabib 2004: 20). The right to have a voice does not, however, necessarily imply equal rights in practice, nor does citizenship include all adults. Women’s rights are restricted in various ways, and so are the citizenship rights of refugees, asylum seekers, indigenous peoples and national minorities. In this book we are concerned with the articulation of interests that takes place within women’s movements, as one of the ways in which those who are affected by political decisions struggle to have an impact on ‘the meaning of equal rights’ and on what is considered ‘matters of collective concern’ (Benhabib 2004: 145). Before venturing into our empirical analysis of the mobilisation, organisation, claims-making and relations between majority and minority women’s movements, we develop our understanding of concepts such as gendered citizenship, multicultural citizenship and intersectionality. In particular, this chapter addresses current scholarly debates about gender and multicultural diversity in relation to citizenship, participation and recognition in the context of women’s movements.