Examining White Western Feminism

On the surface it would seem positive that politicians and academics in the West, specifically the U.S., concern themselves with the struggles of oppressed women around the globe. The political rights, health care and education of women in the Global South, or lack thereof, are mentioned by politicians and activists and often followed by lamenting how far we’ve come (in the West) and how much farther we have to go (everywhere else). To some this sentiment is benevolent, or even progressive. However, the way White, Western feminists frame these issues and the solutions they offer perpetuate the U.S. as the White savior of the world while furthering our own interests, silence and speak for women of color and ignore the real source of the problems these women face.

In Hillary Clinton’s infamous speech, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”, given at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, she recalls the fight for suffrage in America, and then goes on to say, “Now it is time to act on behalf of women everywhere.” This speech is heralded by many as a landmark in feminism and women’s rights. Although 20 years old, this speech encompasses many of the ideals that have come to define Western feminism. Clinton mentions female infanticide in her speech, which is undoubtedly a tragedy. The problem is that this issue is attributed to the failings of communism in China, rather than a global system of patriarchy that devalues women and girls. This Western feminist perspective supposes that the cultures in the East and Global South are inherently flawed and conclude that the only truly free culture is an American one. A similar and more recent example is a quote from Eleanor Smeal, founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation. In the wake of 9/11, she said in a speech, “The link between the liberation of Afghan women and girls from the terrorist Taliban militia and preservation of democracy and freedom in America and worldwide has never been clearer.” To this day, the freedom and rights of women and girls are used to justify and excuse US military intervention all over the world. Ideas like Smeal’s lent support and legitimacy to the invasions or Iraq and Afghanistan and the larger War on Terror, wars that have now cost over $1 trillion dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives.

More recently, we have seen Western groups positioning other cultures as inherently flawed in contemporary times with the French feminist group, FEMEN. The group’s main tactic is to protest shirtless with phrases such as “I AM FREE” written on their chest and stomach. Made up of almost exclusively thin, White, able bodied women, these protests are in no way radical, but the larger problem is their insular focus on Islam and Muslim women. One of the main focuses of FEMEN’s activism is to ‘save’ Muslim women from the oppressions of Islam. The group calls for an end to all dictatorial regimes, “first of all, theocratic Islamic states practicing Sharia law and other forms of Sadism regarding women.” They are deciding on behalf of Muslim women what the problem is and how it should be remedied. Like Hillary Clinton, they claim to have the solution to oppression, and the solution is to act just like them. They assert that by running topless through the street or wearing flower crowns, these women can achieve true liberation. FEMEN and White feminists like them enact discursive violence by speaking for these women rather than listening to them.

A photograph of a group of Muslim women in Birmingham, England.

There is no doubt that there are oppressive characteristics of Islam, but that can be said of other religions, such as Judaism and Christianity. All three of these religions are practiced by millions of unique people all over the globe, and are interpreted in a number of ways. Similarly, all three of these religions have more conservative or Orthodox sects that believe that women should dress modestly, relegate themselves to the domestic sphere and be subservient to men. In September 2014, a group of Orthodox Jews delayed a flight because they refused to sit next to women. Once the flight took off, dozens of these men spent the majority of the flight standing in the aisles, disrupting passengers and crew alike. There is a long history of Christians being sexist in the name of religion. Issues like sex education in schools, abortion and sexual assault are met with resistance primarily from the Christian Right. It’s clear that Islam is not the only religion with misogynistic elements, but it is the only religion whose women are targeted by Western, white feminists for “liberation”. Moreover, in the post 9/11 sociopolitical landscape, Muslim men and women have faced increased levels of violent racism and discrimination. Islamaphobia exists all over in the Western world, but France especially has a history of contention between Muslims and the rest of the population, a history which is steeped in colonization and discrimination. FEMEN may claim they are ‘saving’ Muslim women but what they are really doing is silencing them and taking away their agency, enacting the very violence on these women they claim to want to eradicate.

By putting the blame for oppression on the ‘backwards’ cultures and religions of the East and Global South, particularly the Middle East, White, western feminists completely ignore the role America, including its women, has in the oppression of women around the world. For example, many women in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Mexico are poor not because of their ‘backwards” cultures but because their jobs working in sweatshops for American corporations pay far below a living wage. These economic conditions are a direct result of American foreign policy, like NAFTA, which was passed in 1994 by President Clinton. It is interesting to note that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, an international trade bill similar in effect to NAFTA, was supported by Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. The economic struggles these women face are not because of their culture or religion, but because of the global system of capitalism. No doubt these women still suffer as a result of patriarchal values, but it is irresponsible to erase the role of the United States plays in the oppression of these women.

Hillary Clinton’s 1995 UN speech also exemplifies how White, western feminists erase America’s hand in the oppression of women. In it, she laments the fact that rape is used as a tool of war, but conveniently avoids the fact that American troops often perpetuate this sexualized violence in the countries they occupy. Clinton herself is often touted as the ultimate feminist, but she infamously voted to go to war in Iraq in 2002 — a war which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced over a million people, many of whom are women and children. She is also a strong supporter of Israel, a nation which displaces and violently oppresses Palestinian men, children, and women. Israel receives more foreign aid from the US than all other countries combined, with much of that money going directly to Israel’s military. By lauding Hillary Clinton, White feminists are disregarding the oppression that women in the Middle East face at the hands of US foreign policy. They are erasing the role that the American tax dollars have in the violent oppression of women around the globe, particularly in Palestine.

Support for Palestine, or lack thereof, has been an issue within mainstream feminism for some time. In 1985 at the United Nations International Conference on Women, Betty Friedan, famous feminist and author of the “The Feminine Mystique”, urged Egyptian feminist Nawal Saadawi to stay silent about Palestine. She pleaded, “Please do not bring up Palestine in your speech. This is a women’s conference, not a political conference.” It is strange that the suffering and systemic oppression of Palestinian people, including Palestinian women, would not be welcome at a women’s conference. For women of color, politics and race are women’s issues, and this obliviousness on the part of White feminists is racist, and unfortunately all too common.

Friedan, a White woman, somehow has the ability to censor Saadawi and has authority over the tone and content of the conference. This is a clear example of Friedan’s White privilege and echoes a sentiment bell hooks, a feminist and woman of color, has written about: “Many white women have said to me, ‘we wanted black women and non-white women to join the movement,’ totally unaware of their perception that they somehow ‘own’ the movement, that they are ‘hosts’ inviting us as ‘guests.’” By dismissing the plight of Palestinian women as ‘too political’ and silencing women of color, White feminists perpetuate the marginalization of these women, and uphold White supremacy by fighting to keep White women at the center of the feminist movement.

In ignoring the oppression of women of color, White, Western feminists are able to treat America as a land that has already achieved gender equality. Caren Kaplan writes, “Patriarchy and other forms of oppression are viewed as largely overcome in the metropolitan centers of the West and the project of feminism shifts to…the ‘orient’ or the Third World.” By treating America, and the West as a whole, as a place where women have already achieved liberation and equality, White Western feminists erase the ongoing struggles of women in America, especially poor, immigrant, and minority women. We know America has not achieved gender equality — women of color in America do not even have equality within the feminist movement!

A glaring example of the inequality that remains within America is the plight of incarcerated women. Incarcerated women are essentially invisible in mainstream feminist discourse and Black women, another group that has struggled for recognition in mainstream feminism, are the largest growing population of inmates in recent years. Incarcerated women are disproportionately women of color and poor, and their experiences of oppression extend into their time in prison. The struggle for reproductive justice and freedom extends to women of color’s time in prison as well. Women who give birth while incarcerated are often handcuffed or shackled while in labor and often suffer forced sterilization. Between 2006 and 2010 at least 39 women were sterilized without their explicit consent, and dozens more were coerced or pressured into agreeing to the procedure. The sterilization of women in prisons without their consent only became illegal September 2014. It is clear that treating America as a place that has already achieved gender equality, as White feminists so often do, erases the ongoing struggles of women in America.

White, Western feminism marginalizes women at home and oppresses women abroad. We must recognize that it is not the ‘backwards’ culture of the East and Global South that oppresses women around the world — it is patriarchal and imperialist values. To be a feminist means fighting for all women, and supporting women’s efforts to fight for their own liberation. That liberation will not be brought about by Hillary Clinton, FEMEN or US troops, but only through international solidarity, centering women of color in our feminism, and an end to imperialism and capitalism.