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19 Can. J. Women & L. 119 (2007)
Religious Arbitration in Canada: Protecting Women by Protecting Them from Religion

handle is hein.journals/cajwol19 and id is 133 raw text is: Religious Arbitration in Canada: Protecting Women by Protecting Them from Religion Natasha Bakht Historiquement, la relation entre le fiminisme et la religion a et lourde de tension. Lesfiministes ont, avecjustesse, critique les approches patriarcales de la pratique et de la th~orie religieuses qui ont limits ou mime exclu la participation des femmes de plusieurs domaines de la vie quotidienne et religieuse. Dans le r~cent dbat sur la sharia en Ontario, les organisationsfiministes ont critiqu et expos plusieurs lacunes de la Loi sur I'arbitrage qui ont ajout , de mani&e particuli&ement d mesur~e, aux fardeaux des femmes. En se fondant sur cette analyse, la nobilisation fiministe a concentr ses efforts sur la proscription de l'arbitrage religieux comme seule mthode acceptable de proteger les femmes vuln&ables. Les fiministes canadiennes ont resolu que les interits des femmes vuln&ables-les musulmanes, en particulier-seraient mieux proteges par une sdparation stricte du droit et de la religion. Cette strat~gie de secularisation comme solution &vidente i l'in~galit des genres pose, cependant, problme pour de nombreuses raisons. Premirement, elle ne tient pas compte des femmes religieuses qui voudraient peut-itre vivre une vie axle sur leur religion. Deuximement, l'appui fiministe d'un m&anisme rdglement exclusivement par l'Etat occulte la r~sistance kgitime aux politiques adoptes par le gouvernement depuis les vnements du 11 septembre 2001 qui perptuent des mesures punitives et stigmatisantes d l' gard des personnes de couleur. A travers le prisme du d~bat sur la sharia, le prsente article explore et complexifie la division stricte dress~e volontairement entre le religieux et le s&ulaire en vue de r&tablir un quilibre qui r~ponde mieux aux besoins des femmes religieuses. The relationship between feminism and religion has historically been fraught with tension. Feminists have rightly criticized patriarchal approaches to religious practice and theory that have limited or excluded women's participation in many matters of everyday and/or religious life. In the recent sharia debate in Ontario, feminist organizations were critical in exposing the several deficiencies in the Arbitration Act that had an unduly burdensome impact on women. Relying on their analysis, feminist mobilization focused its lobbying efforts on proscribing religious arbitration as the only acceptable means of protecting vulnerable women. Canadian feminists resolved that the vulnerable interests of women- Muslim women, in particular-were best protected through the strict separation of law and religion. However, this strategy of secularism as the obvious solution to gender inequality was problematic for a number of reasons. First, it shows no CJWL/RFD doi: 10.3138/cjw1.19.1.119

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