Do feminist group complicate rather than resolve problematics facing Muslim women?

Contemporary Muslim women suffer from several predicaments and challenges, probably more than their counterparts around the world, wrote researcher Al Amjad Salameh in Al Akhbar newspaper today. He drew attention to two kinds of problems, internal ordained by the prevalent laws, traditions and local institutions (countries with Muslim majority), and external, brought about by racial profiling unfolding around the West. Salameh argued that feminist organizations (local and western) contribute to the major setbacks in the lives of Muslim women, noting that while such associations initially advocate women’s rights, yet, for certain reasons, they create hurdles instead of presenting solutions to alleviate the pressure. To date, Salameh wrote, neither these associations nor the Muslim communities have been able to identify the source of the dysfunction governing the relation between them. On the one hand, while feminist groups throw accusatory labels (like patriarchal and male chauvinistic) at local communities, the latter, largely conservative, describe women’s associations as copycats of the West, according to Salameh. The status of the Muslim woman cannot be tackled outside the context of her role or level of income in the labor market of states with Muslim majority, Salameh said, giving Lebanese working women as an example, especially for what Lebanon stands for as a leading supporter of the “liberation” of women. A woman wearing hijab in Lebanon, Salameh explained, faces discrimination in employment, and most employers in the private sector and recruiting institutions refuse to hire her. Despite this alarming fact, feminist groups in Lebanon act indifferently without even mentioning similar cases, Salameh said. “Unfortunately, the majority of feminist organizations in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, are funded by Western donors, and therefore have to develop their agendas and goals in the context of Western feminism,” Salameh concluded. He went on to generalize by saying that “western feminists only see in the veiled woman, an oppressed person and that she has to get rid of the veil, before considering it a women and help her in her fight against injustice”. For the complete article, kindly visit the following link: http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/268858. (Al Akhbar, November 30, 2016)