Chandra Mohanty "Under The Western Eyes"

In this feminist review, Mohanty examines the dominant representation (power in discourse) of western feminism in relation to third-world women' representation in the context of the global hegemony of western scholarship. Mohanty focuses on 'western feminist' who identify themselves as culturally and geographically from the west, also production of determination/definition of the third-world women in their discourse; Mohanty especially draws attention to analytic strategies used in western feminist scholarly practices, how third-world women are represented and defined in these scholarly practices.  Mohanty interprets the notion of average third-world woman presented in western feminist scholarly practices, as - being 'third-world' (read: ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, religious, domesticated, family-oriented, victimized, etc.) (65) contrary, being 'western' (read: educated, modern, as having control over their own bodies and sexualities, and the 'freedom' to make their own decisions. These distinctions are made on the basis of the privileging of a particular group as the norm or referent.(65) It is important to point out that Mohanty not only critiques the western feminist analytical strategies but also anyone (whether third-world women in the west, or third-world women in the third world writing and publishing in the west) who uses western feminist analytical strategies in their scholarly practices. Mohanty's critique is directed at three basic analytical presupposition:the first presupposition is; the assumption of women as an already constituted and coherent group with identical interests and desires, regardless of class, ethnic or racial location, implies a notion of gender or sexual difference or even patriarchy which can be applied universally and cross-culturally, (64) the second analytic presupposition is evident on the methodological level, in the uncritical way 'proof' of universality and cross-cultural validity are provided, (65) the third is a more specifically political presupposition, underlying the methodologies and the analytic strategies.(65) 

Mohanty focuses on five specific ways in which 'women' as a category of analysis is used in western feminist discourses on women in the  third world to construct 'third-world women' as a homogeneous 'powerless' group often located as implicit victims of particular cultural and socio-economic systems. (66) There were nine texts from the Zed Press 'Women in the Third World" were challenged on this feminist review, the authors were those who use "women" as a category of analysis in their writing. 

In short, Mohanty critiques the methods used by western feminist to analyze women in the third world and these methods categorize women in the third world as one and their experiences as same. This us versus them notion of thinking brings attention the power dynamic in the feminist discourse. Who defines and finds a certain group to be powerless and oppressed in this school of thought!