The Western feminism has often been used as an imperialist tool by the West. It was employed as an argument in their justification for colonialism and the white man took the burden upon himself to 'liberate' the oppressed Muslim woman from the barbaric traditional (often Muslim) men. More recently the invasion and bombing of Afghanistan used feminist rhetoric to justify their brutal policies in the region. A congresswoman in the US wore a burqa in her 2001 speech and spoke of the oppression of women there and how the US had to intervene. Link attached:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/afghanistan-burqa-congress-speech-b1904142.html
This is far from uncommon. The cultural and religious practices as well as identities of the Muslim women have been weaponized by the West to justify their own wars. Muslim women have a voice of their own which should be amplified in order to understand their problems directly. And all voices should be equally amplified not some selected to serve their own interests. This is a common tactic as well where the West chooses to propagate only certain stories and voices that conform with its own narrative while censoring or ignoring those that challenge it's Goliathan Imperialist nature.
I am not denying that there are significant issues in the Muslim world that need to be dealt with nor am I saying that everything is just a conspiracy that the West cooks up to serve its own interests. No. There are serious problems for women and minorities that need to be addressed but as long as they come from the White Savior they will be plagued with added violence and will not be effective or sustainable. The prime case of this is the situation in Afghanistan where 20 years, billions of dollars, countless humanitarian and social aid etc. did not bring about any change and the country is back exactly where it was 20 years ago before the US invasion.
Indeed it is true that most people think feminism is only a western concept. However it goes deeper than that. From the concept of intersectionality, we learnt that the experiences of one group, or even an individual is not the same as that of another. Until this is realized, people might misunderstand the grounds on which feminism stands.
Indeed it is true that the Western do help the helpless in underprivileged countries but there is their own interests too. I agree after long 20 years of fighting and spending thousands of dollars they did nothing and at the end left their war weapons behind so that the Taliban could use them. One cannot agree with the US returning back in the middle of the conflict violence. Muslims need to organize their own organizations and should pass policies for the enhancement of Muslim women rights, so that their voice could be heard.
West is so obsessed with its notion of "White man's burden" that it tries to impose their ideas to the rest of the world. I totally agree with you. West has politicized the theory of Feminism and is using it as an imperialist tool to maintain its hegemony over the underdeveloped world.
I read somewhere that Western feminism presents the distorted picture of Muslim women as a tool to maintain the supremacy of west over Muslim world. We have so many Muslim women heroes which are ignored in the discourses of Western feminism when they are talk about Muslim women. They do so by generalizing the oppression on Muslim women to justify the "White man's burden".
I believe that Muslim feminists should actively participate when western feminsts meet over an issue. In this way, representation of muslim feminism can be improved and abuse of feminism by west can be decreased. Though it would be a difficult step, but can be done.