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Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?

In Lila Abu-Lughod’s essay she talks about the need to define what it means to be a Muslim women and have Islamic beliefs from the western world perspective. In doing so, an us versus them atmosphere was created between the two regions. There was a focus put on analyzing the culture, faith and gender dynamics rather than the history behind the current state of the government that the U.S was involved in. Everyone wanted an explanation, so religion and culture became the scapegoat instead of getting to the real root of the problem. There was a very specific picture that was being created where the westerners had to go in a save the Muslim women from a life of oppression as seen in the juxtaposition between first lady’s speech and the women in burqas. Muslim women were used to justify the war. In Laura Bush’s speech she made a distinction between people she saw as civilized, or the westerners, and Taliban. She expressed sympathy for the women and children sustaining the idea that we need to intervene and they need to be saved. She wanted to make it seem as if the American bombings were necessary to save the women and children saying that our intervention women have more freedoms. She equated the war on terrorism to be the war against the oppression of Muslim women. This was critiqued because it simplified the struggles of Muslim women ignoring the poverty and malnutrition they faced which can only be worsened with bombings. She believed that they had “selective concern” where they focus on specific issues that are seen on the surface but ignore the root of the problems. Often times the root of the problem is also similar to the issues in the west. For example, there was a fight to end the practice of sati and child marriage in South Asia, but there was no effort to give women a solid educational foundation where marriage wouldn’t be such a focus or necessity. Some of the men fighting to liberate these women were against women in their countries voting. It can make you question if the real goal is to liberate women or is it to make everyone oppress women in the more “acceptable” way.