Under Western Eyes

Lynette Dixon 

In Under the Western Eyes, Chandra Mohanty explores the Western feminist/Third World Feminist binary and the homogenizing effect this binary has on the supposed third world woman. She asserts that Western feminist discourse groups all non-Western women into a universal category which ignores the vast differences present in the (false) category. This grouping ignores class, ethnic, geographical, and religious contexts. Western feminists also tend to ignore the complexity of non-Western women and often simplify and reduce existence to that which is poor and uneducated. Mohanty argues that such over-generalization is the cause of the stratification of the two groups: The Western woman, who is liberated, educated, and active in the decisions that concern her life, body, and liberation and the “Third World woman” who is uneducated and a victim in need of salvation. This brings me to the next binary that Mohanty discusses, active/passive. Rooted in the culturally imperialist and colonializing nature of the West, the discourse on non-western women poses them as powerless victims in need of outside guidance. For example, African and Middle Eastern women are always portrayed as perpetual victims of patriarchy subject to dependence and subservience. This places them into a space that is powerless, passive, and unchanging. Such a limited view of the non-Western world only hurts any chances of unification amongst all women as the current discourse only serves to oppress. Mohanty proposes an alternate form of analysis wherein women are seen within their specific social, historical, and cultural contexts.  She asserts that non- western cultures are not static or simplistic and those within these cultures must be considered as active actors of their lives rather than passive subjects.