The failures — and the future — of Western feminism
Story by Lina AbiRafeh
Photo by Mohammed Abubakr / creative licence
Lina AbiRafeh is a global women’s rights expert, keynote speaker and writer.
In honor of International Women’s Day, I was invited to the Oxford Union Society to join a panel on Western feminism and the ways it has — or has not — harmed feminist movements in the Global South.
Unsurprisingly, I had a lot to say.
I started with a personal story.
In 2015, I moved into academia to run the Arab Institute for Women (AiW), the Arab region’s first institute for women — and one of the first in the world. The institute was established in 1973, well before most Western academic institutions had decided that women and gender issues were “important,” and well before they realized that women and girls were being left behind and needed special focus. I brought almost two decades of humanitarian emergency work into this job: 20 countries — mostly warzones, a PhD, a book, and a long track record of publications.
In transitioning from “global” to “local” work, I noticed a huge change in work culture and in the way I was treated. Donors and international partners started speaking over me. I was told what the priorities in the region were — by those outside of the region. I received invitations to participate in events as the “local partner” — as if my presence would tick a box reserved for “other.” And, in those events, I was often the last to speak. My favorite was being told that my English is “soooo good.” All of this, and more. Evidence — for me — that I was suddenly viewed as less-than, although I had not changed.
Before this, I hadn’t fully perceived the difference between Western feminists and rest-ern feminists. In other words, I thought we were all together in our fight. Our goals were the same, right? Freedom, rights, equality. And yet, our fight was viewed by some — both inside and outside — as an import, an imposition, from Western countries.
So, let’s clarify some things. Firstly, feminism is — and has always been — alive and thriving in the Arab region, and throughout the Global South. Actually, let’s refer to us as the Global Majority — because, to be fair, that’s what we are. Ok, onward.
There is absolutely nothing uniquely “Western” about fighting for your rights and freedoms. It wasn’t invented over there. Trust me, I co-wrote a whole book about it. In Yalla, Feminists, Rebecca O’Keeffe and I argue that feminists in the region — particularly young feminists — are out there fighting for their rights and leading movements pushing for change. And they stand on the shoulders of our feminist foremothers in the region who were courageously defying social norms and fighting for freedom since the beginning of time.
And yet, I’m shocked at how often I have to say that being a feminist and being Arab are not mutually exclusive. I will not be made to choose between being Arab and being a feminist, being Palestinian-Lebanese and being a feminist. I am both. And yet especially now, I notice how I am only truly accepted in Western feminist circles if I’m not too Arab, not too political. My feminism is political — isn’t everyone’s?!
This discrimination has been fully exposed in my advocacy for Palestine. I’ve written extensively for the last 18 months about the genocide and what this means for feminisms. And I’ve watched the Western feminist community sit on their hands, rendered unsurprisingly mute, in their advocacy for Palestinian women. Worse, they flail about, desperate to appeal to “both sides” in the greatest sell-out of feminist values I’ve ever seen. So, yeah, Western feminism has failed women.
Is this the first time? Nope. Very often, rather than helping, Western feminists usually dominate the socio-political discourse on behalf of feminist movements in the SWANA (Southwestern Asia and Northern Africa) region — and anywhere in the Global Majority. They tend to monopolize policy and planning. Their language is filled with English-based technical buzzwords and jargon that does not translate — and does not apply. They exert influence in the form of dollars and programs to focus on what they deem to be the right kind of feminism. And then they issue verdicts on what is — or is not — feminist.
For the SWANA region in particular, we’re often labeled too backward or too hard to work with, and easier to outright ignore. That’s because they say our problems are “cultural” or “religious” — and who wants to dirty their hands with that stuff?! We’re also traditional, submissive, oppressed — or so I’m told. From where I sit, women are oppressed everywhere — including in the US. Especially now.
Western feminists often like to claim that all women should have full freedom to decide what to wear. And, yet, they cannot imagine accepting a woman with a hijab or a burqa because, at a deeper level, they believe that Muslim women are oppressed. Otherwise, why would they choose to wear a veil?
As Arab women, we’ve always lived in this world. But today we navigate a climate of heightened Islamophobia, Arab hate, and anti-Arab rhetoric. We’re lumped together by Western countries — and a Western media — that is overwhelmingly discriminatory against us.
None of this is easy to navigate. Many Islamic feminists try to demonstrate that they are genuinely rooted in their culture, expending considerable energy to distinguish themselves from Western feminists. And yet, when they push too hard, they’re accused of “importing a foreign ideology” and “rejecting their values.” I’m not saying any of this is clear-cut. But recognizing the bias and BS is a very good start in unraveling the mess we’re in.
Worst, I’ve seen all over the world the ways in which Western feminism brands non-white suffering as ‘normal’ — because that’s just “what happens” in “other countries over there.” That’s what happens to Black and Brown women, because we are inherently “UNfeminist.” Well, I’m very much Brown and a feminist — one who’s been marching for rights, equality, freedom for ALL of us. We’re all connected, I thought. That’s my feminism, anyway.
With the invasion of Ukraine, I watched Western feminists rise up in support of their Ukrainian sisters. Why aren’t we talking about Sudanese women and girls whose bodies are being used as weapons of war? Why aren’t we talking about Congolese women and girls who are — quite literally — dying for our iPhones?! Why aren’t we talking about Iranian women and girls and their right to protest the now-compulsory hijab?! And WHY aren’t we talking about the decades and generations of violence experienced by Palestinian women at the hands of the Israeli forces?!
And still, after decades of evidence of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli forces on Palestinian bodies, we still hear… crickets. Just the other day, the UN released a report exposing the massive scale of sexual violence as part of a broader effort to undermine the Palestinian right to self-determination. Israel also continues to carry out genocidal acts through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities — with impunity. Somehow this isn’t enough “evidence” to merit action — or even a small statement of condemnation.
If your feminism doesn’t include anti-racism — it’s not feminism.
If your feminism doesn’t include anti-colonialism — it’s not feminism.
And if your feminism doesn’t include anti-Zionism — it’s NOT feminism.
And last night, Israel massacred over 400 Palestinians in Gaza (and counting) — mostly women, children, elderly. Don’t think it had been quiet before that. Forced starvation. Denial of aid. Restriction of medical staff. Attacks in the West Bank.
For those who hae raised their voices for Palestine, we see you. For the rest, maybe it’s time to ask yourselves why you’re silent?
Western feminism needs to do some soul-searching. There are some critical incompatibilities. For instance, the focus on individual empowerment over systemic issues of poverty, war, gender-based violence. Lean-In culture forgets those who are left out — who do not have the privilege of leaning in due to economic and social constraints. And do we even want to lean into exploitative structures that have historically oppressed us?
Western feminism also creeps dangerously closely to being co-opted by for-profit corporations. “Girl boss” narratives celebrate the handful of women who play the system and reach leadership positions. And emphasis on self-care often fails to resonate with many societies in the Global Majority who are built around the collective — including a collective-care culture. There’s also the hint of “white savior” complex, and the belief that the West is expert on “the rest.”
We hold far too many “global” events in the Western world, meaning many women from the Global Majority cannot attend due to cost, visas, and other closed doors. The result is that they are absent from the spaces where decisions are being made — decisions about their own lives.
Western feminists have a greater share of passport privilege, accessible education systems, and economic power. This means Western feminists dominate research, policy, academia, and advocacy. Western feminists have become gatekeepers of these spaces, resulting in a doubling down on colonial hierarchies and reinforcing the marginalization of the very same women they claim to want to “save.”
Right now, it’s arguably American women who need saving. Since the resurgence of The Orange, many US liberals have bid farewell to women’s rights, lamenting that the US is “now a third-world country.” Aside from the incredibly discriminatory language, they forget that many countries in the world have paid maternal leave, near equal parliamentary representation, lower maternal mortality rates. The West is not on a pedestal of “so much better” than whatever is happening “over there.”
My friend and fellow feminist Hibaaq Osman wrote an excellent article in The Guardian about this very thing. It was a call to revolution for women in the US whose rights, bodies, and autonomy are now under attack. Hibaaq wrote: “The new administration threatens to undo decades of progress in America, but as North Africa and the Middle East have shown, there is power in female solidarity… The message from your sisters in the Arab world? Don’t give up: resistance works.”
Yes, Western feminists CAN learn from us. If you don’t believe me, you haven’t been paying attention.
Having said all of this, I know there are many organizations and individuals who are doing good work, and operating with integrity. You know who you are! These organizations can teach us all how to open up spaces for feminists in the Global Majority — not as tokens or tick-boxes, but as leaders and partners with full funding and support.
We’re missing out on a huge chunk of feminisms if we continue to adopt a feminism-a-la-carte. Ultimately, it’s about asking Western feminism some critical questions:
- Are you stepping up for us in the ways we need?
- Are you taking into account our histories, our colonial legacies, our feminist trajectories?
- Are you respecting our own processes of social change?
- Are you supporting our organizations, amplifying our voices?
If any of those are a “no” — we need a feminist rethink.
All we need to do is follow the noise — but focus on the silence. Whose issues are “feminist” issues, and whose are not? Who is absent, and what are the consequences of that absence — especially in global policy dialogue spaces. And, radically, maybe we should just shut up and listen to feminists from the Global Majority — from Gaza, Kabul, Tehran, elsewhere — to tell us what’s up, what they’re doing, and what they need.
I end with this: It IS possible for feminisms to coexist, co-create, collaborate. We’re fighting against the same forces — and fighting for the same freedoms.
We can get there.
This story was originally published in Medium. Click here to subscribe to Lina’s monthly newsletter, the Feminist Firestarter
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