Lila Abu-Lughod - Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? and The Marriage of Feminism and Islamism in Egypt

In “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving” Abu-Lughod discusses the common Western narrative that Muslim women are victims who need to be saved, by the strong and just Westerners. Within this colonial narrative, the United States has been able to convince its citizens that the War On Terror was just and not only was it fighting terror but liberating Muslim women. Laura Bush gave a speech to enlist women in justifying American bombing in Afghanistan. She uses terrorist and the Talaban almost interchangeably in her speech and claims that the terrorists are the ones making the women wear the “oppressive” veil. Abu-Lughod says, “by putting the focus onto Muslim women need to be saved, the conversation on U.S.’s role on the quality of life in this region is ignored.” Rather than focus on the veil in it of itself being supposedly oppressive, fighting to make the quality of life in this part of the world better for women, would be of better use for the United States. The United States is focussing on the veil in order to use it as a tool to make Muslim women look oppressed and justifying the American army going into these countries for oil, not to liberate women. This ethnocentric narrative also paint people in Afghanistan as “uncivilized.” When the U.S. is able to make people “other” or “savage” it is then easier for them to take over their governements, start wars with them, all in the name of “salvation.” 

This article was really interesting because it counteracted all of the things that I have been previously told about the veil. It is not oppressive women wear it to allow themselves to have freedom and keep themselves safe while venturing outside of the house. 

The article, "The Marriage of Feminism and Islamism in Egypt” There is a television show called, Hilmiyya Nights that had a lot of controversial story lines. In this t.v. show there is a love story between Zohra and Ali. It is a controversial show because Zohra is in the work place and gets seduced by her boss. She realizes she does not really love Ali. She gets pregnant by her boss and her family forces her to marry him. There is a woman writer named Al’assal who wants women to be economically independent, which in turn would liberate them from men, rather than focus on liberating them from men first. She argues that once women know that they can financially support themselves, they will marry men that they truly love and not just men that they know are financially stable. This article valued marriage as companionship and not just a financial agreement between two people that has to be oppressive and unequal. There are many people in t.v. and popular media that are trying to portray new social ideas and spread the idea that women can be independent. 

It is also discussed how the Hijab was popularized in the 1970’s by women who were highly educated. The reality is that most women who don the veil, see themselves working and expect to work. They do not feel oppressed they feel liberated in their choice. In a survey of women who were veiled and women who were not 98% of unveiled women believed that women has the right to pursue the highest level of education possible, the figure for veiled was 92%. In conclusion what I took from both of these readings is before believing what one news outlet or government tells me I am going to read sources by the actual people who belong to the groups that they are referring to. I feel like I have so much more knowledge on the veil and its intricate and varying meanings for those who wear it.

Should Americans try and give opportunity to women in the middle east? or should they allow the people of that region to work on their own empowerment without anymore action from the U.S.?