The prospects for women’s rights under a new government following the collapse of the Assad regime have been scrutinized extensively by segments of the media that habitually position themselves as guardians of women’s rights. This discourse, however, has often been accompanied by a barrage of speculation, much of which is rooted in Islamophobia. Beneath these speculations and the decontextualized debates lies an uncomfortable truth: the phenomenon of the “White Savior” syndrome, cloaked in the rhetoric of human rights and feminism. For years, the lives of Syrian women, confined to the margins of society amidst torture, imprisonment, and civil war, remained far removed from the focus of these self-appointed protectors of women’s rights.
The White Savior as a Monument to Arrogance
Now, as Syrians finally gain the opportunity to intervene in their governance and assert their autonomy, we witness the emergence of these so-called “defenders of women’s rights,” who seek to cast a shadow on this struggle through an Orientalist lens. This stance represents the epitome of the West-centric White Savior syndrome, a monument to arrogance that presumes the right to critique Muslim communities and traditional values without regard for their societal and cultural contexts.
Syrian Women Need No White Discoverers
At its core, this savior complex is but a modern extension of colonialist thought. Much like the explorers who once gleefully “discovered” African tribes and eagerly imposed their own ideals, today’s advocates of “human rights” see themselves as arbiters of the destinies of peoples in countries like Syria. The rhetoric of defending only the rights of women who fit their acceptable mold often becomes a tool for intervention. Yet the longstanding struggle of Syrian women neither requires external saviors nor adheres to imposed models of freedom. For example, statements from Syria’s Ministry of Education indicate that the number of women attending university has surpassed that of men, suggesting that future social transformations will be shaped by their own dynamics. Nonetheless, these achievements often go unacknowledged by the same circles eager to critique.
At the heart of this critique lies a pressing question: how inclusive is Western feminism when applied to different social contexts? Women’s rights can only foster genuine liberation when debated with full recognition of historical, sociological, and religious contexts. Intervening in the organically evolving struggle of women in Muslim societies risks suppressing their authentic pursuit of rights.
To respect the autonomy of Middle Eastern women’s movements, it is essential to evaluate their struggles not through our ideological lens but by allowing them to determine their own futures. Unfortunately, when it comes to Muslim societies, this savior syndrome persists in its insistence on imposing its ideological norms as universal truths. Critiquing this mindset is a moral imperative for both women’s rights and human dignity.
Breaking Free from Messianic Impulses
The discourse on women’s rights must be purged of savior arrogance and transformed into an effort attuned to Syria’s context, grounded in collaboration. We cannot allow an understanding that enforces its norms as the sole “valid” perspective to overshadow the struggle of Syrian women, shaped by their expectations and the sociological fabric of their communities. White feminism, and its extensions in Turkey, must confront its messianic impulses, shed its colonial past, and embrace the uniqueness of different societies’ equality movements. Only then can it advocate for women’s rights without silencing the voices it claims to support.