Class 11_19

The two articles assigned for today refer back to our class discussion on Monday about Muslim women and the policy pursued after 9/11. I especially liked reading Susan Darraj’s article, “It’s Not an Oxymoron: The Search for an Arab Feminism” because it told her story of her search for feminism. I also liked how she identified her father and husband as feminists, although that might seem to be a contrary statement. The article related a lot to our class when discussing Betty Friedan and Western Feminism; a do think a lot of the time we don’t even think about feminism around the world. I admired her when she stood up to her class as well about house cleaning and the liberalization of white women getting to work outside the house. While I do think that this is liberalizing for some women, for others, they have never had the option, so I think feminism needs to be open to all types of women, from all different backgrounds and cultures.

The other article by Lila Abu-Lughod also relates to our class discussion on veils and the “saving” of Middle Eastern women. She makes the argument that these women who lived under the Taliban in Afghanistan weren’t oppressed because of the burqas they were required to wear. She says that even after the Taliban was removed women choose to wear them, and if not burqas, they still choose to wear heavy, modest, coverings (scarves, etc). I think the United States needs to be more open to other cultures and nationalities, and not just assume that these women are being oppressed. Even as I write this, I notice that the word burqa is not in the Microsoft Word dictionary. I think Western cultures need to be more educated on other cultures before they can even consider trying to “save” them or change their culture.

Relating to the other assignments this week, the Taliban was a government who ruled in Afghanistan from 1996-2001 until it was removed from power by NATO forces. Currently they still exist as an underground movement and fight in a guerilla war. The Taliban came into power because of political unrest among the warlords present in the country. It is also recorded that originally the Taliban received aid from the US in the form of weapons and funds. Under the Taliban many activities were banned including movies, television, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, kite flying, and beard trimming. Men were required to have long beards, short hair on their head, and wear head coverings. Women had even more restrictions including no employment or education, no interaction with men who weren’t family or their husband, and they had to wear burqas. If they were found cheating they were stoned to death. They were also lashed or beaten in public.

In general, while it may seem on the surface that these women were oppressed, research into other cultures needs to be done before coming into a country and changing their policy and their government. Relating to our reading from last class, we need to research more and not just slap labels on women in other cultures. In general our country needs to be more educated and welcome to other cultures, beliefs, and women.