Citizenship and Civic Life

Paper Summary:

The first part of the paper examines the marginalization of the Aboriginal Australians and of women in the United States. The next part looks at the justification for granting both these groups "special rights," such as indigenous property rights for the Aborigines and pregnancy leave acts for women. In the last section, the paper concludes that, rather than undermining democracy, "special rights" accord many groups the same opportunity to participate in political and economic life. As such, these "special rights" allow all citizens to participate at the same level, regardless of their cultural or even biological differences.

From the Paper:

"For most of its history, Australia had refused to recognize the validity of Aboriginal social orders, much less their demand for special rights. The failure of the state to record the births and deaths of Aboriginal people during the 19th century is an early indicator of the marginalized status of the Aboriginal people. Even progressive social reformer and Aborigine rights supporter A.P. Elkin believed that to achieve full inclusion in colonial society, Aborigines much abandon their way of life and adapt a European lifestyle (Cited in Gray 1998). In other words, Aboriginal people could only achieve full citizenship by abandoning Aboriginal culture."

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