Intercultural Feminist Practices in Italy: Challenging Stereotyped and Othering Images of Migrant Women

Feminist postcolonial authors criticised the tendency of mainstream western feminism to represent 'third world' women as necessarily less emancipated than western women and to describe their cultural practices in an othering way, without holding their own culture up to the same scrutiny. From this idea stems a paternalistic and patronising attitude that locates western women in a “position to liberate their less fortunate sisters, especially those in the 'Third World'”. (hooks, 2000: 45). In light of these reflections, this article investigates to what extent selected women’s intercultural associations in Italy have been able to counter dominant discourses that see migrant women as necessarily needy and deprived or as a sign of cultural difference. The research confronts the associations' mission statements with the practices and relationships that emerged from the interviews. It focuses first on power sharing within the associations and the relevance of patronizing attitudes on the part of Italian-born women. Secondly the article explores how associations addressed the notion of cultural difference by focusing on the specific issues of Islamic veiling practices and female genital mutilations. Finally it investigates the possible value of cross-cultural comparisons on practices detrimental to women in the promotion of intercultural feminist practices.