Afghanistan, Tunisia, Sudan, Iraq, Kyrgystan, Senegal, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, are predominantly Muslim countries. Yet all of these countries have a higher percentage of female Members of Parliament than, for example, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, France, Israel, Greece, Ireland, and the USA.
In the past, Muslim countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, have seen democratically elected female heads of Government, while European countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, and of course the USA, to name but a few, never had a democratically elected woman as the highest person in office.
British prime minister David Cameron was much criticized today in his home country for the speech he held this morning in Munich, Germany. In itself, there is really not much one can disagree with, when listening to David Cameron. They are not the facts in his speech to disagree with, it is probably the tone he has used, his singling out of Muslims, and his suggestion that multiculturalism is a major problem in Britain today.
David Cameron emphasized the importance of western values such as rejection of extremism, and, for example, gender equality. However, by suggesting that they are Muslims who reject these values, he is neglecting the fact that problems like gender inequality are universal problems, rather than only a problem in Islamic societies and within Muslim communities. Why does Mr. Cameron suggest that people with Islamic backgrounds do not want to share western values such as gender equality, freedom of speech, non-violence, and democracy, to name but a few values, while non-Muslims do want to share these values. It is not that he is saying this, but it really feels as the essence of his vision.
And how comes Mr. David Cameron suggests that the rejection of these kind of values by some Muslim “leaders” in the UK and other Muslim organisations and individuals, result in a “failure” of multicultural Britain.
Again, one can’t really disagree with the facts in Mr. Cameron’s speech. But the question is: why singling out Muslims, and why suggesting that multiculturalism has failed due to intolerance by a minority of Muslims. Can Mr. Cameron explain why multiculturalism can fail? Is multiculturalism a concept that can fail, or not fail? Whether we like it or not, many societies in Europe and around the world have become multicultural societies. Multiculturalism is not something one can aspire, or not aspire. Multiculturalism simply exists, and does not go away.
So questioning the concept of multiculturalism is irrelevant. The issue Mr. Cameron should address is: how do we create a society with equal opportunities for all of our citizens, irrelevant of race, ethnicity, cultural or religious backgrounds, gender, age, or sexual preferences.
Fighting (religious) extremism, terrorism, gender inequality, are values shared by most individuals around the globe, not just David Cameron.