Gender and Culture

Anne Phillips is Professor of Political and Gender Theory at London School of Economics and Political Science.

"[Phillips] draws attention to a whole new set of questions about the relationship between gender and culture and provides directions for future research in this area."Political Studies Review "Anne Phillips's work demonstrates the exhilaration and importance of sustained critique. This insightful work is the latest contribution in her deft and decisive critiques of multiculturalism. It lays out the moral, philosophical and practical grounds at stake in tackling the intractable Gordian knot of gender and culture. It raises all our hopes and forces us to rethink the most settled of positions."Henrietta Moore, London School of Economics

• Acknowledgements vi1 Introduction 12 Multiculturalism, universalism and the claims of democracy 163 Dilemmas of gender and culture: the judge, the democrat and the political activist 384 What is ‘culture’? 575 What’s wrong with essentialism? 696 When culture means gender: issues of cultural defence in the English courts 837 Free to decide for oneself 1078 Consent, autonomy and coercion: forced marriage, public policy and the courts 124Notes 142Bibliography 157Index 165