In "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others", Lila Abu-Lughod presents an analysis of politics of the veil by looking at its cultural significance in both the western world and by those who don it in the world both willingly and unwillingly. The piece begins by analyzing a speech made by Laura Bush which simplified women's relationship to the veil by stating that Afghan women were oppressed by the Taliban who forced them to be veiled and thus rejoiced when freed by US intervention. In reality, women's relationship with the veil is very complex. As Abu-Lughod outlines, there is a class hierarchy in who is allowed to wear different forms of the veil. Not every woman can wear the often vilified burqa as it is viewed as something only upper class women wear. The further complexity of the veil is presented through an anthropological study in Pakistan, in which Hanna Papanek found that many "described the burqa as 'portable seclusion'" which enabled women to be out in the world while still remaining moral and modest as was influenced by their culture (785). In this culture, the Burqa represented a way for women to stay modest and respectable; they are not oppressed as many western anti-veil views seem to present them as. The piece goes on to discuss how many educated women have chosen to veil themselves as a way of remaining modest in the world and as being closer to God through veiling themselves. Cultural relativism is presented in this piece as being imperative when viewing different cultures, yet the author stipulates that this is impossible due to previous cultural influences on the world through means of imperialism and colonialism. Going back to Bush's speech, the author presents the importance of being suspicious of things we are presented with such as anti-burqa campaigns as these can simplify women's suffering by placing all strife in their lives on their veiling. Instead of presenting these Muslim women as needing saving from being veiled and the 'evils' associated with their culture, there needs to be an understanding of the structural violence many of these women face and a focus on the often corrupt agendas of groups 'helping' Muslim women.
The second piece, "Marriage of Feminism and Islamism in Egypt: Selective Repudiation as a Dynamic of Postcolonial Culture Politics" by Lila Abu-Lughod discusses how in Egypt Islamist views around marriage and women's role in society were somewhat shaped by western ideals. Television dramas often present the importance of love being an important drive for marriage and that despite this being viewed as only a modern ideal, it is also pushed forth by many religious views as well. This form of media also pushes forth the importance of women's education. This somewhat liberal ideal differs in that in early Egyptian rhetoric around feminism, women's roles were viewed through their lives as mothers and wives. Education of women was important so that husbands could talk to wives who understood their educated ideals and by being educated, mothers could better raise their children as good Muslim citizens. Through this education, Amin, one of the early feminist scholars of Egypt hoped to destroy women's kin bonds by placing utmost importance on the nuclear family. In reality, anthropological studies have found that arranged marriages often turn into love and place importance on kinship. The piece also stipulates that despite Islamists calling for women to return to traditional roles of motherhood and wifehood, that it is impossible due to changes to society. By women being in the workforce, it created a huge shift in society as their roles in 20th century society thus "traditional" roles are no longer accessible as they once were.
The two pieces differ yet are quite similar. Both pieces discuss how the veil is often used as a guise for labeling women as being traditional and fundamental, yet both present these in differing ways. Both discuss feminist ideals, but the second shows how Egyptian feminism was originally presented by a man as a way to benefit men. The first piece takes more into consideration how the veil affects women and how class is taken into account. Furthermore, the second piece discusses how both modern and fundamental groups both place importance on love in marriage.
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