Nina Burleigh’s Contradictory Discussion of “Oxymoronic Creatures”


Azza al Garf. Photo via Slate.







What do these women have in common? According to Burleigh, it is their religiosity tjat puts these women in a state of “regression.” Burleigh states that for al Garf “religiosity is a full immersion that permeates every aspect of life” and she readily relies on supernatural guidance in political involvements. Burleigh implies that religiosity is incompatible with concepts of justice, equality, and even feminism, pigeonholing all women who are “conservative” or “religious” as those who would be likely to not “support policies that would actually improve the real lives of women.”

Burleigh seems to forget that there are in fact Egyptian women and Muslim women, some of which identify as feminists, who fight to progress women’s rights yet, would still consider their religion to permeate every aspect of their life, including informing those very struggles for equality and justice.

Interestingly enough, Burleigh is a bit of an oxymoronic theorist herself. While she seemingly blames al Garf’s chosen religiosity as the common denominator in regressive ideals regarding women’s rights, she also expresses the opinion that this position of “regression” is, contrariwise, imposed by Muslim men. This is indicated by Burleigh’s statement that, “al Garf and her ilk dare not crow about it,” referring to their “second-place” status within the Freedom and Justice Party, which prevents them from voting for party leaders or serving on top committees. Her description of Egypt’s women as “swaddled in scarves and floor-length gowns—the restrictive costume a direct result of decades of social pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood,” also suggests their religiosity and “regression” is enforced by men.

So which is it? Is it the “scary” men imposing regressive sanctions on women and women’s rights?  Or is it the religion that these women choose to follow that is inherently degenerating to women’s rights?

Either recycled argument Burleigh is propagating is an ancient reverberation in the ears of Muslim women. Burleigh does nothing to tell readers exactly which ideas of Azza al Garf show her “unabashed commitment to policies that limit or reverse women’s rights.” Nor did she do anything in the way of furthering the conversation with al Garf on issues such as abortion or female circumcision.  

An insightful conversation on these issues, rather than drawn out overgeneralizations about the supposed parallels between “Western” and “Eastern” female conservatives would have given readers a chance to examine how al Garf and other women elected to Egypt’s new Parliament might change the sociopolitical landscape for women’s rights in Egypt. Burleigh instead gave us the timeworn stereotypes we have grown so weary of hearing.

Thank you Nina Burleigh for playing the entitled and pedestrian role of speculation, saving neither nuance nor articulation, wavering between “saving” and Islamophobic rhetoric, and flirting with intolerance.

  • Humayra

    Yes, the overall tone of Nina Burleigh’s article is unfortunately snarky and it offers more stereotypical generalizations than analysis. But still, I think she should get some credit for having the insight to compare the likes of Azza al-Garf to right-wing republicans like Michele Bachman and Sarah Palin. That’s a departure from the more usual media representation of women like al-Garf as dramatically different in every way from any “Western” woman–as if no “Western” woman ever supported right-wing patriarchal religious or political ideas.

    Where I would differ with Burleigh is her insistence that women like Palin and Bachman represent the far-right extreme. Unfortunately, I doubt that. Their views on gender and sexuality ARE increasingly mainstream in many parts of the US.

    Politicians who are female, right-wing (and sometimes also, religious) and see no reason to level the playing-field so that other women who don’t share their privileges can also have decent lives are all too common. On both sides of the Atlantic.