Do Trump supporters really care about Middle Eastern women?

Saturday's global Women's March sparked a sudden 'concern' for women's rights in the Middle East among right-wing Trump supporters.
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Shams Al-Shakarchi

22 Jan, 2017
The Women's March was a show of collective resistance [Getty]
After an election campaign run on what some deemed an offensive rhetoric to "every one apart from white males," as one Twitter user put it, Donald Trump doubled down on his alarming policies during the transition to the White House.

So it's no surprise that on his first day in the Oval Office, cities across seven continents were flooded with women-led protests against a presidency which threatened to roll back the rights of women, immigrants and minorities.

But despite the worldwide demonstration of collective resistance to racism, to Islamophobia and to misogyny, some people remained undeterred.

On Twitter, there was an abundance of right-wing men suddenly showing concern for the rights of women in the Middle East.


As well as failing to grasp the concept of mutual exclusivity, they attempted to discredit the massive popularity of what could be an enduring movement at home.

But more worryingly, and testament to how Trump's anti-Islam rhetoric - at worst banning Muslims, at best establishing a Muslim registry - has appeared to legitimise Islamophobic discourse, these people used the march to advance their own personal agenda. One way they did so is by using the issue of women's rights in the Middle East to justify their hate against Islam in general.

How much do right-wing Trump supporters care for the rights of women in the Middle East really?

As one Twitter user put it: "They only care about things like poverty and gender equality when it's a chance to hate on brown people."

 
  
 
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