Western Feminism’s Colonial Gaze: How Selective Solidarity Erases SWANA Women’s Struggles
Original framing: “Solidarity for Whom?” — Global Issues
The history of Western feminism is rife with colonial complicity, from the 'civilizing mission' of 19th-century suffragists to the contemporary 'saving Muslim women' trope. The 1979 Iranian Revolution, where Western feminists initially framed veiling as oppression without engaging Iranian women’s own debates, exemplifies this pattern. Similarly, the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was justified in part by claims of liberating Afghan women, yet these narratives ignored the complexities of Afghan feminist movements. These historical precedents reveal how 'solidarity' often serves as a fig leaf for imperialism.
The selective solidarity of Western feminism toward SWANA women is not an aberration but a symptom of deeper colonial logics that prioritize Western epistemologies and political agendas.
Historically, this pattern has manifested in everything from the 'civilizing mission' of 19th-century suffragists to the 'saving Muslim women' trope used to justify imperial interventions. Yet SWANA feminists have long resisted this erasure through indigenous knowledge systems, artistic resistance, and transnational solidarity networks that center their own agency. The solution lies in dismantling the hierarchies of who produces feminist knowledge, who funds it, and whose struggles are deemed worthy of global attention. This requires not just reform but a radical reimagining of solidarity—one that is decolonial, reciprocal, and rooted in the lived realities of those it claims to support. The trickster’s wisdom, embodied in figures like Anansi or Eshu, reminds us that the most effective resistance often lies in inverting expectations, exposing hypocrisy, and reclaiming power on our own terms.