Do Muslim Women Need Saving Analysis

While women’s oppression exists in virtually every society around the world, issues pertaining to women vary by culture, race, religion, economic status, and geographic location as well as many other variables and attributes that makes us individual, but separate us and our experiences. Global feminism is often separated into two groups, the global North which consists of Western feminists from places with greater wealth such as North America and some parts of Western Europe, and the global South which consists of feminists from countries that are often identified as “third-world” due to their lack of industrialization and lower economic status in comparison to the global North. These two groups are distinguished not only by their differing
Many feminists of the global North view the Muslim religion as inherently oppressive towards women even though they know nothing about the religion or Muslim culture. They only address it from an outsiders perspective and not from the perspective of Muslim women. Lila Abu- Lughod discusses this issue in her book Do Muslim Women Need Saving?. In the introduction chapter Zaynab, a friend of Abu- Lughod from southern Egypt, does a good job of summarizing what Western women should really be concerned about ( Abu-Lughod, pg. 1). When Abu- Lughod mentions her research and how Western women believe that Muslim women are oppressed Zaynab agrees and explains that Muslim women are not given certain rights, but that this is due to the oppressive government not Islam (Abu- Lughod, pg. 1). Feminists of the global North view traditional Muslim headscarves as oppressive and fail to recognize or consider the actual feelings of Muslim women. These misconceptions hold them back from actually helping Muslim women. Another one of the reasons why Western feminists view Islam as oppressive is due to “honor crimes”, acts of violence (often times murder) against female family members by male family members due to the female members violating sexual codes and thus dishonoring their family. Western feminists view honor crimes as barbaric Muslim traditions and fail to recognize that honor killings really stem from the intense value of honor and family that exists in Muslim culture (Abu-Lughod, pg. 114-116). It is not religion that fuels these murders but the society that holds honor in such high regard. Yet again Western feminists fail to learn about the cultures in which these issues lie and the women they are concerned