As a charity bids to boost feminism among Muslim women, \u00a0Shelina Janmohamed asks why British female Muslims would want to join a feminist movement born in the West, which asks women of faith to leave their religion at the door.<\/p>\n
Everyone loves\u00a0Malala Yousufzai,\u00a0right? Fearless, inspiring and courageous, she is the kind of female icon that asserts the need for women to have justice and rights – arguably a ‘feminist’ viewpoint – and which has won the admiration of western feminists.<\/p>\n
Whatever your opinions of\u00a0Yousufzai,\u00a0one part of her core identity rarely discussed in feminist circles is that: she\u2019s a proud Muslim and sees her faith as a driver for the change she preaches. Yet the feminist movement as we know it today, born in the West, asks women of faith to leave their religion at the door. Want to join the feminist club? Then you\u2019re asked to leave the world view that inspires you, makes you want to be a better person, and abandon the very principles that drive you to fight for justice and rights for women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I understand why many feminists in the West might have this knee-jerk reaction:\u00a0religion has often been co-opted by the powerful\u00a0to hang on to their privilege and oppress women, and the European religious context where feminism was born was part of the movement\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This rejection of women of faith is a symptom of a core problem the feminist movement faces today: that it has come to embody only the concerns of white, middle-class women from the West. Everyone lovedSheryl Sandberg\u00a0when she told us to \u2018Lean In\u2019, but some say her self-help guide was aimed at a handful of already highly-privileged women. Working class feminists rarely get a look-in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
And the same applies to women of faith and colour. And for those at the intersection of multiple oppressions being a feminist means a struggle to fight all forms of oppression.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n