A Feminist Critical Evaluation of How Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Language of Protest Deplored Patriarchy and Social Anachronism in the British Bengal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v3i10.591Keywords:
Deprivation, Equality, Liberty, Patriarchal, Protest.Abstract
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932), a Bengali writer and a social activist in the British Bengal during late 19th and early 20th century, is well known for her severe discontent with the on-going suppression, oppression and deprivation of Muslim women in particular by the patriarchal family and society of the age. Her dissatisfaction amounted to pinching criticism with the language of protest when she saw women being refused to enjoy equal rights and privileges like their male counterparts in the lame excuse of religion. She found misinterpretation of Islam and social backwardness to cling to patriarchal tradition to be the root causes behind women’s unspeakable misery. She also witnessed how women were falling behind with men in all spheres of life due to lack of exposure to modern education. So, she felt the urgency of lifting women out of the dungeon of ignorance to light in order to establish a balanced participatory society where women would no longer remain dependent on men. With this end in view, she kept writing profusely and campaigning selflessly for securing a dignified position for women in general within the family and society. The present paper simultaneously documents her vocal voice of protest against various social anomalies and critically evaluates her immense literary and social contribution to promoting women’s general and vocational education in a formal setting.
References
Amin, S. N. (1996). The World of Women in the Colonial Bengal, 1876-1939. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
Beauvoir, S. D. (1956). The Second Sex, translated & edited by Harvard Madison Parshley. London: Lowe and Brydone Printers Ltd.
Chakraborty, R. (2011). Beginnings of Muslim Women’s Education in Colonial Bengal. History Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, ISSN- 2159-550X , 75-88.
Gail, M. (1998). Secluded Scholars: Women’s Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Hossain, S. (1986). Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain O Bangali Muslim Nari Jagoron. Dhaka: Shahittiki.
Hossain, R. S. (1993). Rokeya Rachanbali or[Collected Works of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain], ed. Abdul Quader. Dhaka: Bangla Academy.
Hossain, R. S. (2005). Padmarag or [Ruby]. New Delhi: Penguin Publishers Ltd.
Hossain, R. S. (2011). Istrijatir Abanati or [Woman's Downfall], trans. Mohammad A. Quayum. Adelaide: Transnational Literature: Flinders Institute for Research in the Humanities.
Ibsen, H. (2006). A Doll's House. Dhaka: Friends' Book Corner.
Jahan, R. (1988). Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Sultana’s Dream, A Feminist Utopia and Selections from The Secluded Ones. New York, USA: The Feminist Press.
Jahan, R. (1988). Sultana's Dream: Purdah Revised in Sultana's Dream: A Feminist Utopia and Selections from the Secluded Ones. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York.
Kazi, S. (1999). Muslim Women in India. London, United Kingdom: Minority Rights Group (MRG).
Mernissi, F. (1987). Beyond the Veil: Male Female Dynamics in Muslim Society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Metcalf, B. (1990). Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi's Bihishti Zewar. Berkeley : Oxford :: University of California Press.
Ray, B. (2005). A Voice of Protest: The Writings of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932). In B. R. (ed.), Women of India: Colonial and Post Colonial Period (pp. 427-453). New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Susie Tharu and K. Lalita, (. (1995). Women Writing in India: 6000 B.C. to the Present (Vol. 1). Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Wollstonecraft, M. (2007). A Vindication of the Rights of Women. London, United Kingdom: W. Scott.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).