When I went on a trip to UK last summer, the first thing people talked to me was about women driving in Saudi Arabia. This was a paramount issue in UK's newspapers about Saudi women. Later, the news about activating some election rights for women stirred a lot of responses. When people saw me, especially foreigners, I was usually asked how I feel about that. These were important issues but they were not primary issues for me and many other women in my country, and those who felt this issue is paramount in Saudi women's lives did not know the women in my country nor did they know the issues they cared about. I asked a number of my students about these issues. I found that my students wanted to speak for themselves rather than be spoken for. Unfortunately Western feminists, sometimes unwittingly, sometimes intentionally, think they can do that for us. I once had a discussion with a feminist in an elite university in California who was trying to reshape the lives of women in Morocco. To my wonder, she explained that women in Morocco did not know what is best for them so she spoke and directed things for them. I think this type of behavior is extremely arrogant. Feminists in the Western countries tried to escape their own gender colonization and oppression by speaking and acting against it. Yet, many act colonially towards women in other parts of the world. They try to coerce the minds and behaviors of other women. Maybe such women think we do not have tongues, so they speak for us. They are dead wrong; we do have tongues, ideas, actions and reactions. Granted it that may take us time to find our own voices and our own solutions, we will get there but following others blindly is not our option. Some important questions emerge here. Who can speak for whom? Can I speak for other women in my society? Can I speak for other Muslim women? I think democracy, in spite of certain reservations about it, presents an answer because it takes into account scale and proportion of issues which are key factors to consider, along with differences and individuality. These factors collectively bring about the various options and interests that would shape the matrix of our society. My students and I want to have our own voice, we want to speak for ourselves, raise our interests and decide on what matters to us most. We are thought of as oppressed. Truth is, we are not but our roads may not necessarily collide with that of “feminists” in other countries. Our priorities are different and when we try to change things, it is a good idea to reflect on other women's experiences but we ultimately need to find answers from within our roots because trees can bear the winds only if they are deeply rooted. *The author can be reached at [email protected] __
