Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving Analysis

Do Muslim women really need saving? Yes, they do! In her most known and controversial article “Do Muslim women really need saving?” Lila Abu-Lughod tries to break the western persistent stereotype that Muslim women are generally oppressed in both the Eastern and the Middle Eastern countries that they all need to be rescued from their governments and even from Muslim men. Abu-Lughod elaborates on how the western countries led by the U.S. are using this stereotype as a cover for their illegitimate intervention in every eastern country; she presents several quotes said by western politicians in order to explain the vindication of those interventions such as: Laura Bush when she tried to justify the American intervention in Afghanistan by saying that the successful military actions performed in Afghanistan saved Afghani women as they are no longer imprisoned at their homes and they can now freely listen to music and play ballet.

Furthermore, Abu-Lughod presents how colonial countries in the past used the deteriorating case of women’s rights as a cover for their colonial project, she gives various examples of how

I also agree that the western people who are brainwashed by their media should know the actual reason behind their countries’ decisions to invade other countries. However, the way Abu-Lughod addresses her point raises a concern for me. I am afraid that stressing on the cultural specificity of the east and that women choose to stay at home, cover themselves with burqa and connecting the Muslim women rights to the western intervention in their countries could lead to stigmatizing the whole women’s rights movement at these countries, which could lead to accusing women who are calling for their rights and equality of supporting colonial and western