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Assignment 11

In the essay, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving,” Abu-Lughod discussed that Western thinking perceived the Middle Eastern women needed saving from their “oppressive” Muslim religion and culture. She presents many points in this work that critique the “Western Feminist” assumptions concerning Muslim women. One of these assumptions was that these women are oppressed because they are “forced” to wear a veil. Abu-Lughod pointed out that the veil, one clothing being known as a burqa, was commonly misconceived as a symbol of oppression: symbolizing abuse, forced marriages, and a deprivation of women’s rights. However, the veil, in the Muslim community, represented modesty for women. It represented a separation between men and women. The veil created a “portable seclusion,” in Abu-Lughod’s words, which allows women to feel safe from men. It was also a symbol of respect, wearing it as an appropriate garment in respect to their culture. The Taliban “forced” women to wear it, but this clothing was worn before they risen into power. Even after the Taliban was taken out of power, women still wore some form of veil as a liberation, allowing them to feel safe in the same area as men were.
Another critique Abu-Lughod was the Western “vocations of saving others.” This construction makes the assumption that the Muslim women needs saving from something, in which case, the Western feminists believe to be Christianity and their ideals. This creates a sense of superiority in these feminists as they believe that Muslim women are “restricted” within their culture, when in reality, they are not. Muslim women have a different culture and express themselves in a different manner. Abu-Lughod argued that instead of trying to change those around us to be more like us, it would be more beneficial to try to make the world a better place as a whole. To respect ideals different from ours, to shift the world to a more peaceful place.