This chapter examines the women’s movement in Uganda to illustrate how the debate over multiculturalism and women’s rights has created a false dichotomy between the North and South. Much the debate focuses on culture, avoiding the material conditions that shape people’s lives and underpinning cultural justifications for women’s subordination. The debate should be viewed as a global struggle between those supporting women’s political, economic, and social advancement and those opposed to such change. It is argued that those who defend practices that are harmful to women in the name of...

This chapter examines the women’s movement in Uganda to illustrate how the debate over multiculturalism and women’s rights has created a false dichotomy between the North and South. Much the debate focuses on culture, avoiding the material conditions that shape people’s lives and underpinning cultural justifications for women’s subordination. The debate should be viewed as a global struggle between those supporting women’s political, economic, and social advancement and those opposed to such change. It is argued that those who defend practices that are harmful to women in the name of preserving their religious, ethnic, or other cultural identity are also seeking to protect certain political and/or economic interests.