Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving Summary

In the film, “Under One Sky: Arab Women Talk about the Hijab”, the women in the collective address the tension between religious obligations and feminist aspirations by debunking the stereotype of hijabs in relation with the Islam faith. They believe that just because a Muslim women wears a hijab or face covering, it does not mean that they are oppressed by the religion. It is when the women are forced, by the people and culture of that religion. Ultimately, they state that meaning of being a woman in Muslim, in their eyes is one who embraces their religion by wearing a hijab with confidence and respect for their religion. I believe their resolution was satisfactory because they showed that Islam is not a religion where women are completely

Some Muslim women believe that although the principles of modesty are clearly outlined in the Qu’ran, they perceive the wearing of the headscarf as a cultural interpretation of these scriptures. These women sometimes believe that the values espoused by the wearing of the headscarf can be achieved in other ways. Some women believe that while the hijab allowed women in the past to engage in public society without garnering attention, the headscarf in contemporary Western society brings more attention to women and is thus contradictory to its original purpose. Others believe that the hijab and other external practices have become inappropriately central to the practice of Islam, and instead choose to focus on their internal and spiritual relationship with God.While some women might choose not to wear the hijab, most Muslim women agree that it is a woman’s choice whether or not she wears the hijab. Many Muslim and Arab women who have chosen not to wear the hijab are often staunch advocates of a woman’s right to choose to

The specific topic of this book is the oppression of women. Its overall purpose is to understand the women behind the veils and why the Muslim women take up the hijab. The purpose is also to show how

In her article, “The Veil in Their Minds and Our Heads: The Persistence of Colonial Images of Muslim Woman,” Homa Hoodfar explains that western society’s view of the Islamic veil is one of imprisonment of women by their male counterpart, which limits their daily lives and opportunities, such as studies and jobs. However, Hoodfar states that is a very racist stereotype of Islamic woman. Hoodfar and many other Iranian women see the veil as a religious choice that also beautifies them while keeping them modest. The veil also gives them certain powers over men, which in turn gives them independence from men (Hoodfar, 11).

politicians continue to make baseless links between terrorism and Muslim women's dress” . Through these statements the audience becomes aware of hardships faced and is persuaded to support them, illustrated in “Anyone who is actually concerned about the role and status of Muslim women would do will to listen to Muslim women rather than assume they can speak on their behalf”. Through this statements Ruby Hamad’s article helps to increase the awareness of adversities faced by Muslim women, as creates a positive and supportive view of the Muslim

During the mid-1970’s, the process of veiling in Islamic countries such as Egypt and Iran became highly controversial. The veil became the center of intense political debate throughout the countries, creating political tension among the citizens on opposing sides of the argument. Like many other political issues, there was more than one side to the argument. There were various political groups including Liberal Feminists, Islamic Feminists, and Class Feminists, to name a few, who each had their own opinions on the process of veiling. This paper will go in depth on the arguments regarding the process of veiling and my own personal argument in favor of the Liberal Feminist ideology in regards to this debate.

The first chapter explores questions of possible Islamic liberation and why, given the choice, women don’t remove their burqas. In response to that first query, the author advocates that freedom and liberation for a country should be based on its people’s desires and values instead of what Westerners believe is the best way of life. Unfortunately, a key finding in this chapter was that the United States took advantage of Afghan women’s situation by using their rescue from the Taliban-and-the-terrorists as a justification for the War on Terror. Westerners view head coverings like burqas/hijabs as restrictive, a symbol of the patriarchy. In fact, many Middle Eastern women describe burqas as ‘portable seclusion’ that enables them to move out of segregated living spaces. Veils are worn as fashion statements or to express piety/virtue or belonging to a household. This exact worrisome practice of colonial feminism focuses more on the religious and cultural practices that persecute women, rather than more destructive issues like poverty, illness, malnutrition, politics, or lack of

Masked Identities Would a masked person feel accountable for what they do? As a masked person would not feel responsible for their actions, neither does the young man in the story “The Yellow Paint” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Though this character has been painted let’s see how it relates to how a masked person would feel. Most people covered unnaturally don’t feel their actions are their fault. With reluctance up until after an accident that left him with a broken leg our character decides to be painted leading him to doing criminal activities he hadn’t dabbled in before.

Veiling in Islamic Societies Introduction This essay argues about the various aspects of veiling and covering of women in Islam, in particular, everyday it is becoming harder for those women who want to follow the instructions of Islam and also live in the societies that do not accept it at all. In Australia, Muslim women exist as a mixed population, approaching from several diverse social, cultural and dialectal experiences, also embracing different levels of religiousness. Nevertheless, these populations are unified through their association with similar belief that several people proclaim is conflicting with the rights of the women. However, the two privileges of choice of religion and gender equivalence are well recognized values within

With the recent interest of the media on the topic of hijab and the oppressive symbol that it is portrayed to be, I have decided to write my paper on the hijab and what it means to various Muslim women. This topic is important and worth studying because most of the information that is relayed about the hijab by the media is not based on the opinion of Muslim women who actually wear the hijab in North America. Currently, feminists around the world have started a campaign for a “#nohijabday.” Although this movement initially began in order to speak out against the Iranian government for forcing Iranian women to don the hijab, it quickly spiraled out of control on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This event has led to an influx

Feminism can be described as a movement that fights for men and women to have the same resources and opportunities. Colonial feminism is a movement that also fights for men and women’s equality but mostly focuses on some certain areas. In the article “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” by Lila Abu-Lughod, she explained “This was a selective concern about the plight of Egyptian women that focused on the veil as a sign of oppression but gave no support to women’s education.” There are plenty of examples of changes to local custom promoted by the colonial administration. One example is when Hitler came to power, he blamed the Jews for the mishaps in Germany and he ordered for them to be sent to concentration camps to be killed. Another example is when the Europeans first came to America, they wanted the land and everything that came with it so they forced the Native Americans out.

Selby, we are introduced to the struggles between secularism and culture. Selby explores the effects of French secularism on the freedom of religion of Muslim women by examining the relationship between gender, race, and freedom. The idea of feminine sexuality in relation to freedom has resulted in the decision by France and Canada to consider women wearing the hijab and niqab in public to be “unacceptable.” While Western ideas of female sexuality are described in one way, the veils and covering of Muslim women designate the beliefs of their culture. Selby challenges the argument made by the French politicians to be racist and sexist excuses.

Women who cover themselves are assumed to be coerced or capitulating to make pressure, despite the fact that wearing an enveloping. Over is mandatory (in public) in only a few settings and that educated Muslim women in the past thirty years have struggled with the opposite problem: They must defy their families and sometimes the law to take on what they value as pious Islamic dress. (pg.17)

I think the resolution to the conflict of the girls' relationship in Circumstance is by moving to another country since the morality police everywhere and the rules in Iran is very strict. For example, when Shireen asked ateefah to move to Dubai from the first time, they should’ve went instead of waiting all this time, and because they waited all this time, they got into troubles that separated them.

Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others Author(s): Lila Abu-Lughod Reviewed work(s): Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 783-790 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3567256 . Accessed: 18/01/2012 15:55