The Role of the State in the Intra-Group Vulnerability of Women: Revisiting Debates about Multiculturalism through the Case of Polygamy among the Bedouins in Israel

Abstract

This paper examines the intra-group vulnerability of minority women, focusing on the context of polygamy among the Bedouin-Arabs in Israel to explore two questions: 1) should the liberal state address concerns about the oppressive potential of minority cultures’ practices for women? And, 2) if so, what approach should be taken to this end, and how should this approach inform state laws? Critical work discussing liberal multiculturalism has generated different proposals for addressing intra-group vulnerability concerns. But if we attempt to practically implement these proposals, we find that the proposed solutions come down to a binary choice between heavy-handed interventionism and a laissez-faire approach. Looking into actual cases of intra-group vulnerability to critically reflect on this theoretical scholarship reveals that the scholarship suffers from a striking gap in its proposed solutions – it overlooks the state’s role in creating and perpetuating the problem. This oversight can explain the tendency of scholars to fall into this binary. Viewing the state as a bystander restricts these scholars to ‘response strategies,’ either intervening against other community members, or holding back from acting at all. Investigating the vulnerability of Bedouin women to oppressive marriage arrangements highlights how the state could be implicated in this problem on different levels. This investigation illustrates how Israel’s policy of pushing the Bedouin out of their lands has reinforced this vulnerability. It further elucidates how Israel’s legal treatment of polygamy has been significant in perpetuating this vulnerability. Finally, it reveals how discriminatory accessibility barriers to public resources, including family courts and welfare assistance, have made it harder for Bedouin women to resist and break away from oppressive marriage arrangements. This investigation also allows us to see why recognizing the (partial) responsibility of the state for this problem provides the key to escaping the laissez-faire/heavy-handed interventionism binary. Most significantly, it indicates how removing barriers impairing minority women’s access to various public resources can open up paths for these women to leave and resist unfavourable aspects of their community life, without forcing them to exit their community altogether.