Response to Itās Not an Oxymoron: Itās the Search for Arab Feminism
Arab women should be seen as nothing less than any other woman in the West. The term āhousewifeā derived from the common family in the West, where the man made all the money while the woman stayed home to cook and clean. However, Iām learning now that it was never like that for Arab families. The woman works full time, just like the man, but additionally does clean and cook. I think that people of the West shouldnāt complain about the oppression of household duties, because if they donāt clean and cook, āwho will do all the work?ā as the author asked her class. Itās different when you look at it from that perspective, why do people always get defensive when we talk about a housewifeās duty? Itās obviously to stay home and do domestic work, but every woman does that honestly, and itās inevitable. Because, as she said, someoneās gotta do it. Are men too lazy, or are women just more motivated to do domestic work? Who knows, but I found this pretty interesting.
As the authorās parents did, my parents raised me to keep a clean environment. Whether it was cleaning my room or doing the dishes, we valued cleanliness and I didnāt see it at oppression really. I mean, yeah, it sucks to have to do chores, but I donāt see it at a sexist thing that Iām expected to keep the place looking nice. One day, when I get a house and a husband and stuff, I donāt mind cooking and cleaning on top of my career. Those things have to get done, but also, nowadays, men are more generous about that kind of stuff. Work between women and men are generally the same now. However, Arab women stand out so much more than Western women, because most Americans would imagine Arab women to be wearing a veil on their face. We need to consider that thatās only the Muslim side of Arabs; many are Christian. We tend to make such assumptions about the Arab culture and Arab feminism, by having a distorted image of them, but we should really appreciate their pride in hard work and accomplishments!