Third World Feminism and Its Challenges

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Summarizing the Articles
The Challenges Women Encounter
The Lack of Solidarity between Women
Conclusion
References

Introduction

In their works, D. Kandiyoti, A. Sa’ar, and U. Narayan address three entirely different issues: the ways of coping with patriarchy, the isolation and loneliness of Israeli-Palestinian women, and the struggle of Third World feminist with the “Westernization” stigma, respectively. Nevertheless, all of the authors study the problems of women in traditional societies. The three scholars enable us to answer two essential questions: what challenges do women face when they do not fit into their societies’ gender standards and why are some women opposed to the struggle for women’s rights.

Summarizing the Articles

The three texts offered for the analysis, “Bargaining with Patriarchy” by Deniz Kandiyoti, “‘Westernization,’ Respect for Cultures and Third-World Feminists” by Uma Narayan, and “Lonely in Your Firm Grip: Women in Israeli-Palestinian Families” are, at the first glance, written on entirely different topics. However, the main points are similar. All of the works discuss the problem of women in the regions where traditional societies are predominant: North Africa, Middle East, South and East Asia. The authors use ethnographical data to support their reasoning: Kandiyoti reviews the literature on the state of women in North Asia, Muslim Middle East and South and East Asia; Sa’ar employs the results of her fieldwork, mentioning several ethnographic examples from Israeli-Palestinian families; and Narayan writes at length about her experience as a woman from a Third World country (India).

The intent of Deniz Kandiyoti’s work is to re-define the term “patriarchy” since, according to her, this term is “overused and unqualified in contemporary [the 80s] feminist theory” (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 274). Kandiyoti offers to define patriarchy through the ways women are dealing with it (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 274), as a result of which she created a term “patriarchal bargains,” i.e. the attempts of women to negotiate with patriarchy (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 275). She is one of the first feminists to realize that “patriarchy cannot be explained simply as a universal need of men to dominate women” and the way it is implemented can be understood only when placed in historical and cultural context (Haj, 1992, p. 762).

In the text that is originally a part of the 1997 book “Dislocating Cultures,” the argument of Uma Narayan revolves around the other term – “westernization.” Narayan reflects on the meaning of this term and the reason Third World feminists are considered “westernized.” As she believes, Third World feminists should confront this accusation that puts them away from their cultures. Moreover, there is a need to stop “viewing cultures as sealed rooms” (Narayan, 2008, p. 388). As N. Schirilla put it, “The upshot of Narayan’s analysis is a plea for diversity and heterogeneity” (Schirilla, 2000, par. 7).

Amalia Sa’ar analyzes the “code of familial commitment” of Israeli-Palestinian women to find out why they often experience loneliness and isolation (Sa’ar, 2001, p. 723). As a conclusion, Sa’ar states that “it is rooted in the code of familial commitment, which is primarily masculine and includes women only secondarily,” which makes it difficult for women to commit to the family, and the result is isolation and loneliness (Sa’ar , 2001, p. 734).

The Challenges Women Encounter

The women, who do not meet the gender expectations of the society they live in, face particular challenges. This problem is studied in the three mentioned texts from different angles and positions. Starting from A. Sa’ar, there is quite a number of women (particularly in Arabic societies), who fail to fit the gender standards of their families. As the author claims while men can easily identify with their kin, expecting to receive something as a reward (loyalty, recognition as a leader), women are taught merely to be loyal to the kin, altruistically, not expecting something in response (Sa’ar, 2001, p. 734). The challenge that women get when failing to fit these standards is defined as loneliness and isolation since in Arabic societies “women are inculcated from childhood to give precedence to their families’ and clans’ interests and curb their individuality” (Blumen & Tzafrir, 2011, par.11).

U. Narayan discusses the issue of family and everyday life in her own experience; she covers the topic of feminist activism through it. The particular problem she mentions is the one that Sa’ar does not see: if a woman in a traditional society is a feminist, she is blamed (by her family) for being affected by Western culture and rejecting her own (Narayan, 2008, p. 378). A hard question for women of the Third World is whether they should defend their culture against Westernization or protect their rights using Western heritage such as feminism.

Unlike these two authors, D. Kandiyoti describes the ways women can, instead of struggling, avoid these challenges and cope with patriarchy through the so-called patriarchal bargains, which can even make women interested in the system that oppresses them (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 280-281). Kandiyoti depicts various reasons for this fact. For instance, old women are interested in the system, for it allows them control their married sons (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 271). In higher strata of some African communities, it is considered prestigious for women to be restrained from work, and they are interested in keeping status-quo, even if it makes them financially dependent (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 280).

The Lack of Solidarity between Women

The opposition of some women to the struggle of others for the rights is better life is another significant problem highlighted in the given texts. The authors explain the reason for such opposition in different ways. Kandiyoti stresses the importance of the interests separating women; for example, mothers-in-law struggling with their son’s wives for the affections of their sons, which brings domination (Kandiyoti, 1988, p. 279-280). Likewise, Sa’ar states that “Israeli-Palestinian culture explicitly discourages female solidarity” (Sa’ar, 2001, p. 735). As she explains the phenomenon, women value their positions inside of a kin’s power hierarchy, and that makes inter-female friendship risky, even though it do exist and is legitimate.

In other words, women do not support other women, who do not fit gender standards, merely for the reason that they are afraid to lose the positions they have already achieved (Sa’ar, 2001, p. 735). Neither Sa’ar nor Kandiyoti mentions how the problem of feminist activism can separate women while Narayan does mention that. According to her, women, who struggle for better living for their sisters, are regarded as “westernized” in traditional societies, and it raises the level of distrust of them (Narayan, 2008, p. 378). This fact makes female solidarity hard to achieve.

Conclusion

Despite being devoted to different problems, all the given texts in one or another way address the issue of challenges faced by women who fail to meet gender requirements of their society and the issue of the lack of female solidarity. The authors employ distinct approaches to these matters: Sa’ar analyzes them through studying family commitment, Narayan examines the confrontation between the “Western” and the “native”, and Kandiyoti considers the problem of women’s power.

References

Blumen, O., & Tzafrir, S. (2011). Sentenced to commute: Indigenous young women at a city university. Cultural Analysis, 10(1): n.p. Web.

Haj, Samira. (1992). Palestinian women and patriarchal relations. Signs, 17(4): 761-778.

Kandiyoti, Deniz. (1988). Bargaining with patriarchy. Gender and Society, 2(3): 274-290.

Narayan, Uma. (2008). “Westernization”, respect for cultures and third-world feminists. In S. Seidman & J. C. Alexander (Eds.), The New Social Theory Reader (2nd ed.) (pp. 376-388). London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Sa’ar, Amalia. (2001). Lonely in your firm grip: Women in Israeli-Palestinian families. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 7(4): 723-739.

Schirilla, N. (2000). Culture concepts at work. On Uma Narayan: Dislocating cultures. identities, traditions and Third World feminism.Polylog: Forum for Intercultural Philosophy, 1(1): n.p. Web.

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