 PANEL DISCUSSION CULTURAL IDENTITY IN A GLOBAL WORLD: WOMEN’S CRUCIAL ROLE IN IMAGINING NEW FUTURES Friday 12 October 2007
Julia Harrison opened proceedings by asking what threats there are to social cohesion and cultural identity in a world where the twin phenomena of migration and globalisation are increasingly important. Whose responsibility is it to tackle these threats, and what concrete action can be taken? France’s Minister for Solidarity, Valérie Letard, said government has a part to play in reinforcing the role of women in society. She stressed the need to encourage more women to set up their own companies and pledged to push for more girls in the fields of science and technology. Urgent action is needed to combat issues such as violence against women, which she termed “our common shame,” saying that “one woman dies every three days in France as a result of her partner’s blows.” She announced the launch in November of a new plan to “fight this unacceptable violence.” Létard stressed that the fight against discrimination benefits men as well as women. She wants to see a “new social contract between men and women” and achieve equality of pay. The minister paid tribute to the “major” role played by the United Nations and the European Union in this regard, and outlined a scheme to ease the stress between work and family life, in particular by increasing childcare provision, which France would push for in the second half of 2008 when it assumes the EU presidency. Diversity was important to L’Oréal as a multinational company, Sylviane Balustre d'Erneville said. This was not just the ability to reflect cultural differences by providing a wide range of products, but also on a structural level. She questioned why women should be treated as consumers and men as decision makers and called for a reversal of that model. In addition to providing financial study grants to minorities, L’Oréal seeks to assist integration through mentoring schemes and internships. But, she said, companies need to participate actively in changing mentalities, through training and assessment of managers. She agreed with the need promote women in traditionally male-oriented fields like science by improving recruitment processes and mentoring, not simply of women, but of men too. Létard emphasised that “companies want to be citizens” these days and highlighted the tremendous changes that have taken place in recent years, with companies now seeking close community links, even in what she termed “difficult” neighbourhoods. Balustre d'Erneville mentioned that companies could work to integrate people from different cultures, focusing on core values that would help people to operate in an international world – a theme picked up on by academic, Sara Silvestri. Silvestri first drew attention to one of the central problems she encounters when advising policy makers in the EU – the fact that they often seek to identify what an identity is, without reflecting that identity itself is a fluid phenomenon. We should help new immigrants to integrate, “not regard them as foreigners as if they were here to contaminate us, as if our identity was fixed and theirs was fixed.” Accepting this fluidity would also help us to integrate features of other cultural identities into our own. The aim should be not to iron out all cultural differences, but to help newcomers to buy into a set of internationally accepted behavioural norms. Gisèle Mandaila Malamba asked whether we seek to have a society based on a cohesive “melting pot” model, reinventing a new collective history based on a diversity of cultures; or one she described as a “salad bowl” – based on coexistence but without homogeneity. “It seems to me,” she said, “that the ‘melting pot’ model is more appropriate in this era of globalisation, as it invites us to participate in a more constructive manner in a globalised society in which new, mixed identities will inexorably have to emerge.” However, all groups have the right to guard their own customs and traditions. Responding to a question as to whether this worked in Belgium - a country with its own fault lines between Flemish and Francophone groups – she said the country has a tradition of pluralism, despite the attempts of extremist groups to highlight differences. The panel agreed that education and early intervention were key to providing a platform for successful integration. But Silvestri pointed out the need to encourage good teachers to stay in deprived inner-city areas. Silvestri expressed scepticism of top-down approaches that sought to impose integration. Confidence and trust are reciprocal processes. And Mandaila emphasised that government is only one actor in achieving successful integration. Society, she felt, does not need more laws to integrate people, underlining that people have to respect the laws that exist for all citizens. Existing laws could be adapted, but separate legislation could lead to ghetto-isation. Women have a key role to play in transforming society: “Women transmit values, and they’re very strong… They can say they want change and they want respect for diversity,” she concluded. ________________________ |