Feminists Don't Understand Muslim Women

In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan argued that American women suffered from a malaise she called "the problem that had no name." Her critique of domestic ennui helped launch the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s, leading to many of the advances women now take for granted. But not everything has changed. So we asked women to answer this question: If you had to pinpoint today's problem that had no name, what would it be? Read the other responses here. [2]

When Aasiya Hassan was murdered [3] earlier this year in Buffalo, N.Y., Marcia Pappas, head of the New York chapter of NOW, blamed the murder on Islam. She said it was a “terroristic version of honor killing, a murder rooted in cultural notions about women’s subordination to men.”

But Pappas had it all wrong. Around the country, Muslim women and Muslim feminists, along with Muslim men and domestic-violence organizations, rallied to spark a nationwide discussion on domestic violence within the Muslim community [4]. Pappas’ refusal to retract [5] or rethink her statements signifies a larger problem that Muslim feminists have [6] with non-Muslim feminists. We get no respect, I tell ya.

Many women just don’t get Muslim feminists. Some believe that you can’t be Muslim and a feminist or that Islamic feminism just doesn’t work. These assumptions minimize the importance of religion in many Muslim women's lives and deny women the right to incorporate faith into their lives. They also force Muslim women to choose between faith and feminism—a battle that faith usually wins.

Non-Muslim feminists look at Muslim women through a lens that ignores the historical reality of colonialism, occupation, and the importance of religion in public life. When they do so, they sometimes put women at risk. For example, take either of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Several Western feminist groups joined the call for battle: “It is our duty to spread freedom! And we must liberate the women of [insert predominately Muslim country here]! Look at how their men treat them!” And voilà: Rudyard Kipling’s “White (Wo)Man’s Burden” [7] is alive and well more than a century after it was written.

These wars actively undermined the work of feminist and women’s organizations within war-torn countries; in a time of conflict, everyone’s first priority is survival and winning, rather than concern about “women’s issues.” The Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan [8] was founded for the societal and political advancement of Afghan women in 1977, well before the United States aimed to “liberate” them in 2001. Yet few feminist organizations recognized that RAWA, or any other group led by Afghan women, was fighting its own battle against the Taliban.

Historically, calls for liberation have often created circumstances that are worse for women. Oxfam released a study [9]earlier this year reporting that Iraqi women’s conditions have qualitatively deteriorated since the U.S. invasion. While I’m sure this wasn’t in the grand feminist plan for Iraqi women, the reality is that sweeping numbers of them are widowed, unemployed, and subject to brutalities at the hands of sectarian gangs [10] and occupying forces.

Non-Muslim feminist misunderstandings don’t just affect women in predominately Muslim countries. They affect Muslim women living in the West, too. When France proposed a ban on religious symbols in schools, specifically targeting the hijab [11], French feminists were completely onboard, dismissing the hijab as a symbol of oppression that no Muslim girl would wear willingly. But the ban has systematically denied schooling to girls who wear hijab. Demanding a girl choose between her school and her traditions is a surefire way to keep her down. Many girls choose the latter.

The truth is, many feminist Muslim organizations are already hard at work. The global Musawah [12] movement is working to bring equality to Muslim family laws. The annual International Congress on Islamic Feminism [13], held in Spain, collects Islamic feminist thinkers and activists from all over the world to tackle international issues affecting Muslim women.

We have to have a little faith in Islamic feminism, Muslim feminists, and the work they do. These issues go past the regular feminist infighting—when feminism steamrolls over Muslim women’s choices and capabilities, Muslim women are the ones who get hurt.

Illustration by Deanna Staffo

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