Breaking down the laws and customs that make a woman the virginal possession of a husband is the first great step in women's rights. It changes the family bond and traditional family power structures for ever. Those who consider Westernisation an invasion of ancient traditions are usually looking at the world through male spectacles. The emancipation of women is the most radical cultural revolution the world has ever known, reaching right into the most elemental aspects of humanity. There's no going back, and the world's women are all being swept up in its path.
Cultural globalisation means global feminism, freeing women everywhere.
All these are reasons to consider that much cultural globalisation is essentially a force for good, something worth promoting. We may be coy and self-deceiving about it, but in fact the West is quite rightly intent on spreading its culture across the world. Even if we don't like to admit it, we are all missionaries and believers that our own way is the best when it comes to the things that really matter - freedom, democracy, liberation, tolerance, justice and pluralism. Our culture is the culture of universal human rights and there is no compromise possible. This is extracted from an essay appearing in On the Edge, Living with Global Capitalism , edited by Will Hutton and Anthony Giddens and published by Jonathan Cape at 16.99.