Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

"There is no one-size-fits-all feminism," says author Rafia Zakaria

"There is no one-size-fits-all feminism," says author Rafia Zakaria

PAKISTAN-BORN activist and author Rafia Zakaria has said there is no one-size-fits-all feminism and that she hopes to "decentre" white feminism through her new book Against White Feminism.

In an interview with The Guardian, Zakaria said she wanted to challenge the “liberation trajectory” of the Muslim woman’s story, so that Western women stop thinking, “Oh, it’s so bad over there... it must be so great here”.


In the book, Zakaria outlines how one-size-fits-all white feminism has been complicit in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in destroying native aid and empowerment structures in low-income countries, and in denying the cultural backwardness of Western societies vis-a-vis women’s rights.

She told the newspaper why she wrote the book: “I am a Muslim brown person from Pakistan, and the assumption when I meet people in the West is that all the oppression I’ve ever faced, all the hardship that I’ve ever faced, were back in Pakistan, and were the consequence of cultural mores and beliefs.”

At 17, Zakaria agreed to an arranged marriage to a Pakistani man living in the US. The marriage was unhappy, she said, and Zakaria left her abusive husband at the age of 25, seeking refuge in a shelter with her toddler.

According to Zakaria, a white feminist is someone who refuses to consider the role that 'whiteness and the racial privilege attached to it have played in "universalising" white feminist concerns, agendas and beliefs as being those of all of feminism and of all of feminists'.

'Female professors told me to quit'

In 2002, when Zakaria ran away from her husband with “a baby on her hip”, she had no money, bank account or credit card. A black woman “took her on” and offered her an apartment. After a few challenging years, Zakaria finished law school and completed a postgraduate degree in political philosophy.

She said a lot of white female professors told her to quit and added that white women “obstructed” and sabotaged her “in every possible way” from doing her job in NGOs.

White feminism, according to Zakaria, is still connected to the patriarchy through the power pool of white men.

She said, "There are doors that open for you, things available to you that are not available to a trouble-making brown feminist like me, because I am going to ask questions and I’m not going to take it.

“I have sympathy for them; for literally hundreds of years that has been the only way to get anywhere close to power.”

Zakaria also noted recent comments by Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on rape as a manifestation of a legacy of cultural ranking that no one has "really bothered to take apart".

"That cultural ranking says that cultural crimes occur in these places and those sorts of cultural crimes don’t exist in other places in the West. There isn’t some particular British form of violence against women, it’s just violence against women," she told The Guardian.

According to Zakaria, the real goal of her work is to comfort women of colour who have been “gaslit”.

“I struggled very much. I had come from trauma, I went into trauma. I feel a very strong sense of responsibility towards other women like me, who’ve been through traumatic marriages, migration, being a single mother. Women like me never really make it," she told the newspaper.

"I feel a responsibility towards other women who are just as smart as me, just as articulate. Now I’m here, I’m going to say all those things. I believe that you can tear things down when they’re not working, and build them up again. That is one of my core beliefs because I’ve done it.”

More For You

Tributes paid to entrepreneur and philanthropist Rafiq M Habib

Rafiq M Habib (Photo: Habib University Foundation)

Tributes paid to entrepreneur and philanthropist Rafiq M Habib

TRIBUTES have been paid to Rafiq M Habib, a prominent Asian business leader, philanthropist and founding chancellor of Habib University, who passed away in Dubai earlier this month. He was 88.

News of his death was confirmed by Habib University, which described him as the “moral and visionary force” behind its creation. “His calm resolve and integrity shaped every step of this journey, and his belief in education’s role in serving the greater good continues to guide our mission,” the university said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less
migrant crossings

The man is suspected of using online platforms to advertise illegal boat crossings

AFP via Getty Images

Asian man held in Birmingham for advertising migrant crossings online

AN ASIAN man has been arrested in Birmingham as part of an investigation into the use of social media to promote people smuggling, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Monday (15).

The 38-year-old British Pakistani man was detained during an NCA operation in the Yardley area. He is suspected of using online platforms to advertise illegal boat crossings between North Africa and Europe.

Keep ReadingShow less
King Charles & Modi

King Charles III (L) poses with India's prime minister Narendra Modi (R) during an audience at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk on July 24, 2025.

AARON CHOWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

King Charles marks Modi’s 75th birthday with Kadamb tree gift

KING CHARLES III has sent a Kadamb tree as a gift to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on his 75th birthday on Wednesday (17).

The British High Commission in New Delhi announced the gesture in a social media post, noting that it was inspired by Modi’s “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” (One tree in the name of mother) environmental initiative. The sapling, it said, symbolises the shared commitment of the two leaders to environmental protection.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump hails 'unbreakable' US-UK bond in Windsor Castle speech

US resident Donald Trump and King Charles interact at the state banquet for the US president and First Lady Melania Trump at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, on day one of their second state visit to the UK, Wednesday September 17, 2025. Yui Mok/Pool via REUTERS

Trump hails 'unbreakable' US-UK bond in Windsor Castle speech

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Wednesday (17) hailed the special relationship between his country and Britain as he paid a gushing tribute to King Charles during his historic second state visit, calling it one of the highest honours of his life.

It was a day of unprecedented pomp for a foreign leader. Trump and his wife Melania were treated to the full array of British pageantry. Then, the president sang the praises of his nation's close ally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Police officers

Police officers stand guard between an anti fascist group and Tommy Robinson supporters during an anti-immigration rally organised by British anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, in London, Britain, September 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

UK defends France migrant returns deal after court blocks first removal

THE British government has defended its new migrant returns deal with France after a High Court ruling temporarily blocked the deportation of an Eritrean asylum seeker, marking an early legal setback to the scheme.

The 25-year-old man, who arrived in Britain on a small boat from France on August 12, was due to be placed on an Air France flight from Heathrow to Paris on Wednesday (17) morning. But on Tuesday (16), Judge Clive Sheldon granted an interim injunction, saying there was a “serious issue to be tried” over his claim to be a victim of trafficking.

Keep ReadingShow less