Chandra Mohanty argues that feminists discourse (at least in the 1980s) creates a generalized "third-world woman" that is basically a victim of circumstances. This an inaccurate representation of reality, she says, and is an extension of colonialism, or Said's orientalism. Similarly, Abu-Lighod argues in "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?" that western powers create a narrative of saving women from oppression in order to justify what are effectively neo-imperialistic endeavors, and that this can hurt homegrown, often faith-based initiatives to improve the lives of Afghan women.
Abu-Lighod's post-9/11 writings are particularly relevant in light of the dangers of Islamophobia and the framing of policy in the west toward Muslims as a conflict of civilizations, as organizations such as “Stop Islamization of America” and “Stop Islamisation of Europe” tend to. The us-and-them mentality that many westerners have toward Muslims, particularly Muslims in the Middle East, not only is morally wrong but prevents a collaborative ideal that would allow people on both sides of the Atlantic to create a more stable, less violent, more just international system.
Abu-Lighod's other works focus primarily on the cultural constructions that evolved in response to and incorporating western ideals. She argues that feminism in majority Muslim nations in the Middle East is not an imposed by westernization nor homegrown, but instead emerged through the interaction of the west and the various individual societies (including their brands of Islam) of the region. Because it is this interaction that characterizes the establishment of cultural ideas about the role of women and the content of marriage, her theory rejects the relegation to victim status of which Mohanty warns.
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