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Iranian Women’s Uprising: Lessons for Euro-American Academic Feminism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2024

Paria Gashtili
Paria Gashtili*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Philosophy, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA
*
Email: pariaakbarakhgari@missouristate.edu
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Abstract

This paper reflects on representations of the convergence of Islam and feminism in light of the recent uprising of Iranian women. Most of the existing literature discussing Muslim women’s rights are locked in a dichotomy of approaches, one being prejudicial and the other apologetic. The prejudicial approach is a (neo-)Orientalist one. It understands Muslim societies as backward and their redemption in abandoning Islam and following the lead of the “West.” The apologetic approach is a multiculturalist one, advocating most prominently by academic feminists based in Europe and United States. In trying to reclaim agency for Muslim women, this approach denies real oppressions happening in Muslim societies, and as a result of Islamic practices. Inspired by Iranian women’s fight for freedom, this paper challenges the aforementioned dichotomy, and instead calls for a third approach that begins with, and responds to, the lived experiences of women living in Muslim societies.

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Type
Musing
Information
Hypatia , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , Spring 2025 , pp. 229 - 237
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hypatia, a Nonprofit Corporation

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