This is lady land, free from sin and harm. Virtue herself reigns here.
 -- Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Sultana, a young woman from the remotest part of Bangladesh roams about paths of the Ladyland. She feels, as normal for a Bangladeshi Muslim woman, a bit awkward fearing she might come across a man in the street. Understanding her feelings, her host in the Ladyland, sister Sara assures her that there was no reason to fear that Sultana would come across a man there. Responding to Sultana's question where the men could be, Sister Sara explains men were kept in confinement. The reason being it was not safe for women to be in the streets as long as men were about. Sultana informs Sister Sara, in her country- like everywhere else- it's the women who are kept inside to be safe from men. Sister Sara comments how unfair it was to shut in the harmless women and let loose the men. She asks Sultana, "Was it wise to keep sane people inside and let loose the insane?" She points out to Sultana, "As a matter of fact, in your country, this very thing is done! Men, who do or at least are capable of doing no end of mischief, are let loose and the innocent women, shut up in the zenana!"

Sister Sara asks Sultana, " why do you allow yourselves to be shut up? "Because it cannot be helped as they (men) are stronger than women." replies Sultana.

Sister Sara comments, " a lion is stronger than a man, but it does not enable him to dominate the human race. You have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests."

I couldn't resist myself from quoting the above lines from the fantasy story book Sultana's Dream, written by a young Muslim woman writer of Bangladesh a hundred years ago. The book, Sultana's Dream written in English by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (educationist and social reformer, 1880-1932) was published in 1908 in which Sultana, a young woman dreams of a land ruled by women, which is "free from sin and harm, reigned by virtue herself".

I quote these lines to draw your attention to the fact that feminist thinking, as commonly believed, did not emerge exclusively from the west. Women of this region, since at least a hundred years, initiated themselves into feminist thinking and looked for alternatives for their life not in terms of conventional male-dominated concepts of individual and social life, rather very much from the point of view of women themselves. The book astonishingly looks critically at the issues like discrimination in women's legal rights, individual freedom, social division of labour, man - woman relationship as well as women's social responsibilities. The book even discusses the issues of environment, alternative energy and war. Rokeya in this book of hers and also in other writings shows how religion and culture, misinterpreted and abused by the vested interest groups, exploit and suppress women and violate their basic rights.

The discussion goes on like this.

Sultana saying, "what is your religion, may I ask?"
"Our religion is based on love and truth. It is our religious duty to love one another and to be absolutely truthful. If any person lies, she or he is .............."
"Punished with death?"
"No not with death. We do not take pleasure in killing a creature of god- especially a human being .The liar is asked to leave this land for good and never to come back again."

In her description of the Ladyland, Rokeya elaborates, "Education was spread far and wide among women. And early marriage also stopped. No woman was to be allowed to marry before she was twenty-one." This is a very significant piece of information. Till now in Bangladesh, despite long continuous struggles by the women's groups we have not been able to raise the marriageable age for girls to 21 despite the fact that child marriage is illegal.

In other writings of her she says, "people may ask me why do you bring in religion while talking about the society. My answer to that is religion has strengthened our bond of slavery. It is in the name of religion that men dominate us.  I, therefore, have no other option. May the religious leaders pardon me." In her comment on abuse of religion she further says, " whenever a sister has tried to raise her head, it was immediately crushed by scriptures or in the excuse of religion." (Nabanur, 2nd Volume 5 Issue).

Rokeya did not limit herself to writing only. She established a school for Muslim girls in kolkata in the early nineties. She walked from door to door to approach the eminent Muslim families to send their daughters to school so that the ordinary people of the muslim community does the same. She advocated for women's economic rights, education and personal as well as social liberation. For her, women's liberation was a comprehensive issue of personal, social, cultural and political freedom. Rokeya did not accept the subordination of women in the society or in the family and therefore dedicated herself to bring changes. It is said of Rokeya that she on the one hand, fought against the social norms and restrictions on women in the name of religion and culture through her courageous writings, and on the other, carried out activities for social reform. She worked hard to identify ways to bring women out from the darkness of seclusion. In her literary and social works, Rokeya relentlessly called upon the Muslim women to break the shackles of confinement and ignorance. Clear sighted and single minded, she pronounced the need for social and religious reform on a rational basis. Her analysis of the condition of women- their utter subjection under the various systems of patriarchy throughout history- displays a logic and vision rare for the age. Her argument was that it is the gender division of labour that determines the position of women in the family and the society. Occupational tasks and roles based on sexual differences fix women's roles and activities and limits her rights in all spheres. According to Rokeya, the path to women's emancipation is to break the chain of gender division of labour and creation of new social, economic, political and cultural conditions so that they can undertake any profession in the society.

Rokeya also established a women's organisation called Anjuman-e-Khawateen Islam which drew many Muslim women to come out of the limits of domestic life and join with other women in the effort to change their conditions.

Following her, we have a galaxy of very illustrious women who made remarkable headway in the struggles for women's advancement and emancipation both in their private lives as well as in the social scene. It is not possible in this short presentation to give a comprehensive picture of the century long women's struggles and the various issues they had taken up. To name a few among the many, they are Nurunnesa Khatun,(Writer,1892-1975) Sara Taifur(social worker and writer, 1893-1971) Akikunnesa,(writer, 1896-1982)Mehrebanu Khanam,(Painter 1885-1925), Pribanu Khanum,(social leader 1884-1958) Zobeda Khatun Choudhury,(Politician and educationist, 1901-1986) Fazilatunnesa,(Mathematecian and educationist, 1905-1977)  Mahmuda Khatun Siddika,(Poet, 1906-1977) Shmasunnahar Mahmud(Politician, parliamentarian and educationist,1908-1964)  followed by the era of Sufia Kamal.(Poet, Social leader and pioneer of the women's movement in Bangladesh, 1911-1999).

The  youngest of  all in the group but the most illustrious after Rokeya, Sufia Kamal's literrary career began at the age of twelve with the writing and publication of her first story which was followed by the publication of her first poem at the age of fifteen, then continued through her last year of life. Dr. Sajed Kmaal writes in his introduction to Sufia Kamal's book, Mother of Perls and Other poems, " It was a remarkable journey of initiative, determination, endurance, courage and commitment. As major an achievement and dimension it was, for a life so actively engaged as hers, focusing only on her literary career would severely limit the introduction to her." For Sufia Kamal, as she said herself, there was no separation between poetry and life. It is further said of her that Sufia being a major poet of the country also engaged herself in organising women for various purposes- social, human rights, women's rights, children's rights, peace, charity, development of the poor and slum dwellers, anti military and anti-fundamentalist movements, trial of the war criminals of 1971, communal harmony. Starting in the thirties she has been the founding member of several organisations, most of which are still surviving and with strong footing. She wrote, she edited women's magazines, taught, launched campaigns and gave leadership in forming organisations. She also actively took part in the liberation war of Bangladesh and since the liberation initiated and led many other organisations in a myriad of progressive causes, both at government and non- governmental levels. She was the founder chairperson of, among many other organisations, of the following: Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (the largest women's organisation in Bangladesh), The Bangladesh Women's Rehabilitation Board (Govt.) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). But in protest against military interventions, she gave up all the government positions.

It is not possible to give full portrayal of Sufia Kamal in a single paper. Just to get a glimpse of her extremely active life and her position in the minds of the people of Bangladesh, the following quotation from Wahidul Haque's tribute to her "The One and Only", (1996), a senior most journalist, writer, singer and Tagore Scholar could be cited.
 

"Sufia Kamal, known and loved universally not only as the top Muslim women poet but doyen of all poets in Eastern Bengal after partition of India, was all her life more than a courageous person. In her snub (of the regime) she in fact expressed her rejection and open denunciation of the Ayub regime. And that simple yet great act set a tone for Bengali People's political resistance graduating eventually into the liberation war. It is common place to heap encomiums on Sufia Kamal for her cultural and literary work and contribution to women's emancipation. But, considered in depth, these are cushioned on her unerring political position of almost godly infallibility. Her stature has gained steadily over the years mainly owing to this and by as early as the mid-fifties she had become a truly national figure- not only a mere entry on the women's Who's Who. Her assiduous rejection of privilege- coming as it did from all successive governments- Ayub's to Ershad's- has lent her ethereal physical presence a kind of divine touch."

On the issue of religious bigotry, she was critical and enlightening, rather than merely condemning. Unshaken by their militancy or life-threats which she has been subjected to for years, she challenged its followers, instead, to re-examine the fundamental meanings of religions, including Islam. She challenged them- along with any other reason, for their own education and spiritual development- to critically and open mindedly examine the teachings of the Quran and its varied interpretations and seek within these the universal essence of religion and peace. She was not naive about the fact that there are some people who would exploit this cause  or any other cause- to their own ulterior motives or ends. She considered one of the most effective antidotes to that lies with a broadening public awareness and education.
 

The other name that deserves mention here is that of Jahanara Imam (1929-1994) who led the movement for the trial of the war criminals of 1971. She took a strong stand against the religious fundamentalists who collaborated with the Pakistani army in 1971 in perpetrating violence against women and aiding the army in genocide of Bangladesh. I must aware people that though I have mentioned the names of Muslim women only, but to say women of Bangladesh does not necessarily mean Muslim women alone. Nor women's movement in Bangladesh is an exclusive movement of Muslim women.. Bangladesh is a multicultural, multi-religious society holding the history of struggles and movements participated jointly by Muslims, Hindus, Budhists, Christians and other ethnic groups and Bangladesh prides in the respect it has for such diversity. But for the purpose of this meeting, I  restrict myself to discussing how the Muslim women struggled through to get recognition of the principles of women's freedom and equality.

All these women came from conservative Muslim backgrounds from the upper strata of the society. For many of them, going to school was almost sacrilegious. Except a handful of them who made it to the schools, colleges and universities, most of them were allowed only to learn Arabic, Persian and Urdu sitting at home.  Bangla, the language of the land was considered the language of the commoners and therefore not to be cultured by them.  Any other social opportunities were beyond their imagination. The only exposure they were entitled to was to make themselves skilled, good Muslim housewives. Yet all of them, defying all kinds of restrictions, inhibitions and threats, shone in intellectual excellence and social consciousness. They established themselves as writers, social workers, teachers, artists, historians, political thinkers and reformers devoted to the cause of women, society and the humanity. They merited high as outstanding individuals in various fields and at the same time became catalysts for women's liberation. What is remarkable in the work and deed of these women is the level of consciousness they demonstrated in their analysis of their social context, the role of religion and culture and above all their own role in the process of advancement of women. They were as critical of themselves as they were of the social, cultural and political conditions for the subordination of women. They fought for women's education, economic freedom, social liberation, political participation and equality in legal rights (proposed uniform family code for all women). With great risk they raised their voice against violence against women in the family as well as social violence in the name of protecting religion and honour (fatwa).

It is important to note that they all had to operate within the strict religious bounds as well as rigid nationalist values. Theirs was the time when Muslims sat backward in all spheres of life- political, social, cultural- feeling extremely defensive in front of both Hindu and British influences. It was the time when as Indians, on the one hand, they were reacting to British colonial interventions and on the other, as the backward section of the society (minority), trying to resist the Hindu (majority) interference. Muslim women, as a consequence, were being pushed further backwards. As always, as the depository and repository of culture and religion, women were made to take the sole responsibility of flying the flag of identity high.   Those women who chose to and committed themselves
to the women's liberation had to go on creating effective strategies to deal with the extreme sensitive and defensive character of the society particularly regarding the women's questions. The society was ever ready to put the women's fidelity to Muslim nationalism and Islam to test, which for all practical purposes, meant complete subjugation of women to male dominance and resignation to domestic life. On the other hand there existed so much disbelief and lack of respect for as well as ignorance about the struggles these women were carrying out in the western mind, which lingered until very recently. We hear even in 1972 ,  "No feminist works emerged from behind the Hindu purdah or out of the Moslem harems; centuries of slavery do not provide a fertile soil for intellectual development or expression" (Feminism: Essential Historical Writings by Miriam Schineir,1972). This attitude has totally been proved wrong by women of our region. However, the success of these women in breaking the barriers was first of all due to their determination, family support, the knowledge and confidence they so painstakingly acquired, extending themselves to other women for solidarity, organisation and above all their undaunted courage to face social odds and outright rejection of all undue, unjust pressures.

They were dreamers as well as actors. They knew, for sure, what they wanted and knew no bounds to act towards that-- to live in dignity, equality and peace.

References:
1.Sultana's Dream, Rokeya Skahawat Hossain, Narigrantha Probotana, Dhaka, 1996
2. Begum Rokeya: A brief Introduction and the Struggle, Afroze Akram, Dhaka, December 2001
3.Shoto Bochhorer Bangladesher  Nari, (women of Bangladesh over hundred years), Narigrantho Prabartana, Dhaka February 2003,
4. The One and Only,  Waheedul Haque, The Daily Star, January 1996
5. Introduction to Sufia Kamal's bilingual anthology of poems- Mother of Pearls and other