Feminism in the west has had a long and tumultuous history. Some of the earliest feminists were outright racist white women from the upper classes who supported eugenics and the traditional gender roles, and gave little to no thought to women of colour and from working classes. They were operating within their own contexts, like everyone always does. The suffragettes' greatest rivals were other women. The Equal Rights Amendment in the USA was fought tooth and nail by women like Phyllis Schlafly. Feminism in the west has had to contend with the realities of non-white, working class, and non-heterosexual women, as well there are ongoing internal debates still within feminist circles about things like porn, sexuality, transgenderism, etc, and topics surrounding "global" feminism and the issues that that entails (cultural relativism vs. ethnocentric neo-imperialism etc.).
In places like Japan, China and India - primarily non-muslim countries - there is also a lot of cultural sexism, from sex-selective abortions, to feoticide, to sex slavery and general notion of women's roles and options being restricted. So, patriarchal oppression of women (and subsequently of some men and of non-heterosexuals) is not exclusive to the west or to muslim-majority cultures.
The difference as most here have pointed out is religion. And not just any religion, because they have religion in India and Japan too, but the kind of absolutist religion that Islam has become especially since Oil-funded (by all of us oil addicted neoliberal consumers) Wahabbi elites have become the defacto demagogues and sponsors of the most absolutist strain of Islam (which lends itself very easily to such absolutism, no question about that).
In India, e.g. there are growing voices for women's liberation even within the repressive caste system there, as manifested by the "Gulabi Gang"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXwH-kjSUSsSampat Pal, who has spearheaded this campaign, works and argues and fights for the rights of women mostly, but of the community in general. Especially important is that she is from the Dalit "untouchable" caste herself... and she and this "gang" don't let tradition, religion or financial problems stop them from speaking up and getting media attention to expose these issues. (An excellent documentary on this group is out there, called
Pink Saris).
In muslim-majority countries, I can't see something like this happening. Even in a place like Pakistan right next door and with so much in common with India. Islam has codified patriarchy so deep within the cultures and peoples it's taken over, that for most muslims, especially in muslim-majority countries, it is
their only sense of identity.
Islam has had its own empires, but muslims still believe that they have always been the colonized, never the colonizers. Arabs and Muslims were involved in the African slave trade, but most muslims still believe that they have always been against slavery or came as liberators to colonized african nations.
If there is to be any feminist/women's liberation movement that would actually take hold, it would have to be something that works within Islam but completely transforms Islam. Some women in muslim-majority countries do embrace western brands of feminism, but that is usually seen as invasive because for muslims, non-muslims are the perpetual "other" and, like any racial/cultural supremacists (white or not), they will reject even something that may be in their own self interest, simply because it's perceived as something from "the other".
Funny though, they seem to be just fine embracing technology and conveniences, just not socially progressive ideas. I am amazed at how many muslim supremacist groups and pages exist on Facebook that decry the evils of the west - on a website started by an
american atheist of jewish descent, using computers, devices that would not have been possible without the work of a
gay, white british man.
So what might actually change things for the better for women? Well, first of all, it will have to be a movement that is organic, genuinely organic, from within, like the Gulabi Gang is a very organic movement for India. I think a lot of women are trying, there are women like Mona Eltahawy, Amina Wudud, Irshad Manji, although they are in the west. There are women like the ones who recently organized a campaign for women to drive cars themselves in Saudi Arabia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8MROOGba94But this raises questions like:
- Who gets to even have a car to drive? Only women from upper classes.... so then this is similar to early American feminism, IMHO.
- Is consumerism the only kind of freedom worth fighting for?
- By driving, these women would still be feeding the oilagarchs, so it's kind of one of the superficial things to aspire to, it would seem to be, as the underlying inequalities are not going away just because some women from the upper classes told their drivers to take a smoke break while they drove to the glistening malls themselves.
In Pakistan, there are huge differences in how privileged women from upper classes are compared to the majority of women who are not from those classes. But overall, they don't fare well, but then, neither do a lot of Pakistani men. There was a very interesting article I came across recently about the
lack of a sense of "sisterhood" in Pakistan.
So I don't know... I just ranted a lot, but this is an interesting topic and I'll read over what others have written here and in other places, and share anything else relevant that I find.
Topic: Women's liberation in the Muslim world-- strategic considerations