Sultana's Dream: A Feminist Utopia and Selections from The Secluded Ones

by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Roushan Jahan (Editor, Translator), Hanna Papanek (Afterword)

Sultana’s Dream, first published in 1905 in a Madras English newspaper, is a witty feminist utopia—a tale of reverse purdah that posits a world in which men are confined indoors and women have taken over the public sphere, ending a war nonviolently and restoring health and beauty to the world.

"The Secluded Ones" is a selection of short sketches, first published in Bengali newspapers, illuminating the cruel and comic realities of life in purdah.

Suggested for course use in:
History
Indian Literature
South Asian Studies
Utopian Fiction
Women’s Studies

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880 - 1932) was a Bengali Muslim writer and feminist activist who founded the first Muslim girls’ school in Calcutta in 1911.

Genres: Feminism, Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, India, Science Fiction, Asia

108 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

Begum Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, popularly known as Begum Rokeya, was born in 1880 in the village of Pairabondh, Mithapukur, Rangpur, in what was then the British Indian Empire and is now Bangladesh.

Begum Rokeya was an inspiring figure who contributed much to the struggle to liberate women from the bondage of social malaises. Her life can be seen in the context of other social reformers within what was then India. To raise popular consciousness, especially among women, she wrote a number of articles, stories and novels, mostly in Bengali.

Rokeya used humor, irony, and satire to focus attention on the injustices faced by Bengali-speaking Muslim women. She criticized oppressive social customs forced upon women that were based upon a corrupted version of Islam, asserting that women fulfilling their potential as human beings could best display the glory of Lord. She wrote courageously against restrictions on women in order to promote their emancipation, which, she believed, would come about by breaking the gender division of labor. She rejected discrimination for women in the public arena and believed that discrimination would cease only when women were able to undertake whatever profession they chose. In 1926, Begum strongly condemned men for withholding education from women in name of religion as she addressed the bengal women's education conference:

"The opponents of the female education say that women will be unruly...fie !they call themselves muslims and yet go against the basic tenet of islam which gives equal right to education. If men are not led astray once educated, why should women?"

Reviews

[Lauren]

"You need not be afraid of coming across a man here. This is Ladyland, free from sin and harm. Virtue herself reigns here."

From SULTANA'S DREAM: A Feminist Utopia and Selections from THE SECLUDED ONES by Rokeya Sahkawat Hossain, ed. and tr. from the Bengali by Roushan Jahan. Original text - 1905, this compilation and translation is from 1988 by @feministpress

#ReadtheWorld21 📍Bangladesh / India
#WomenInTranslation

Yep. You read that right. 1905.
This subversive feminist utopian scifi short story was written over 100 years ago by a Bengali Muslim woman!

The title character, Sultana, dreams of a technologically advanced utopia, where women rule, and men are cloistered at home. They live in a solar-powered cloud city, travel by air cars, full of gardens and water. Women spend their days learning, governing, and studying science in laboratories.

Written in English (1 of the 7 languages Hossain knew), this story was originally printed in a women's magazine in colonial India and present-day Bangladesh.

"The Secluded Ones", was originally written in Bangla, translated here by Jahan. It is a collection of personal stories, both Hossain's and oral histories of other South Asian (Muslim and Hindu) women living in purdah, or complete seclusion from society.

This observance is discussed in detail through Hossain's reportage (sometimes to very tragic ends), and through 3 additional essays in the book, the introduction and a biography on Hossain by Jahan, and an afterword by Czech sociologist of purdah in South Asia, Hanna Papanek.

Begum Rokeya began the first school for Muslim girls in Kolkata in 1911, teaching languages, literacy, mathematics, and various trades. She was a relentless activist for women's rights and education, as well as a gifted writer in many styles - both the imaginative scifi with political overtones, as well as reportage and critical analysis.

Sultana's Dream as a short story is available widely online as it is beyond copyright.
This particular edition, including her writings, academic analysis, etc. is highly recommended for the historical, religious, and sociological context.

[Mir]

Changes in political, economic, social, and cultural forces can affect women's lives with unexpected speed, and not always for the best. --Roushan Jahan and Hanna Papanek

[Meem Arafat Manab]

উদ্দেশ্য সৎ হইলেই ভালো সাহিত্য হয় না। এক জায়গায় দেখলাম লেখক পুরুষের জঘন্যতার অংশ হিসাবে চুরুট টানারে নিয়ে আসছেন, অবশ্য বাদবাকী বই আরো বিকট। এই জিনিস, আরেব্বাবা, এক দিকে আর্কিমিডিসের আবিষ্কার, একদিকে রাজকাহিনী, আরেকদিকে দ্বীনের দাওয়াতের মতো একটা ভাউ, কিন্তু শেষ পর্যন্ত ফিকশন হিসেবে, প্যাম্ফলেট হিসেবেও, লুথা।

[Hafsa]

Fascinating to read such a work in early 1900's colonial India given the emphasis that western feminism has placed on "founding feminism." The story itself is short, but the essays by the reviewers are also interesting, especially the life of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain.

[Luke]

3.5/5

This compilation delivered exactly what I expected of it. It's part sci-fi, part journalism, part biography, wrapped up in social critiques of past and present and delivered in the manner of the short and the sweet. The problem with this is, when theory rather than narrative is the concern, it's difficult become engaged if one has already encountered the critical jumps elsewhere. True, I haven't paid much attention to the social justice of Bangladesh beyond some general overviews of India and Mughals and independence, but what little history I knew was enough to to make Hossain's context a matter of review rather than a learning experience. I highly recommend it to those who range from complete lack of knowledge to touting Gilman as early feminist utopian extraordinare, but if you're well on your way past that, this is more of a bucket list check mark than a revelation.

In terms of the story: other than using neuroatypical people as a metaphor when it came to justifying the institutionalizing of men (lol fuck that shit), it was admirable in its density and clarity. With regards to the journalistic 'Secluded Ones', I'd be tempted to check out the complete work if there was a guarantee that the rather sensational stories are contextualized to the point of spawning real critical engagement rather than instinctual "OMG! Save the brown women from the brown men!" As for Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, she's obviously a historical personage whom I'm grateful for having existed once upon a time and dedicated to enlightening other people with, but I'm content with the bio I received here. My least favorite part was the afterword, which was obsessed with hammering home the point of patriarchy = bad without mentioning how the 1980's resurgence of Islam vs the so called "West" has been monumentally instigated by said so called "West"'s rampant imperialism. There's also the super nit picky point that a paragraph concerning Christianity-fueled anti-abortion activity in the beginning looks to have been copy pasted here and there, which didn't help the incessant religion = bad go over any better.

I suppose what I could have used in this mix of genres is a little more subtlety. Yes, it's wrong to restrict women's choices. Yes, various religions have been used in such a way as to enable the previous. However, I didn't see much about women's choices when it came to valuing their faith, other than an anonymous anecdote that passed over the spiritual crisis rather quickly for all the author seemed to value their beliefs. As such, like other feminist texts I've come across, I don't recommend this as an introductory one. Considering how rarely English-only audiences find themselves in this section of the literary world, I doubt there will be many of those, but with rampant anti-Islam these days, one can never be too careful.

[Stacia]

I found this book because I was looking for options for Women in Translation (WiT) month. Other than a few short essay-like entries, I think most of this was originally written in English.

The book has a utopian/sci-fi short story by Rokeya, as well as some of her non-fiction essay/entries, specifically about life under purdah -- the essays were the items originally written in Bengali. The remainder of the book has a few analyses of Rokeya & feminism in India. Fyi, less than half of this book has writings by Rokeya as more of it consists of analyses & commentary from others. That's ok, though, as much of it was new information for me. It's a worthwhile read.

(WiT month, 2026.)

[Ruhin Joyee]

It is amazing how a woman from that age, despite being in an environment outrageously conservative, Begum Rokeya came up with such wonderful ideas and imagination.

[Phyllis]

The short-story "Sultana's Dream" was originally published in 1905, written in English by the 25-year-old writer Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. It is considered to be perhaps the earliest feminist writing by a Bengali Muslim woman. It was this background that drew me to this book.

The story is of a world that turns the custom of purdah on its head. The protagonist sees a world where only women are seen in public, while men are confined to the "mardana" section of their home. The country is at peace and there is no violence. Women have invented means to capture the rain from the skies on demand and to capture the heat & power from the sun on demand. Women have invented flying cars, and they have so minimized the hours necessary for work that they have ample time to engage in hobbies and entertainment. It is, in short, a feminist utopia.

The story is charming and far-sighted sci/fi in its own right. The balance of this version of the book in which I read it sheds historical light on the other work of Begum Rokeya during her short life (she died at the age of 52) and also on various perspectives on the practice of purdah in the 19th and 20th centuries.

[DocSumo]

The first known feminist utopian work of fiction. This 8 page short story was written by Begum Rokeya in Calcutta in 1905, a decade before Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland. The story neatly and humorously reverses the practice of purdah by putting all men into seclusion. It reminded me of an experience I had in Nicaragua in the ‘eighies. When a group of North American women were presenting our radical solution to domestic violence - safe shelters for women- the Nicaraguan women responded with shock. They asked why our solution was to remove the women from their homes? Their strategy was to remove the men.

Rokeya was a remarkable woman and a founder of Indian feminism. She wrote this and a few other pieces in English but chose to write mostly in Bengali and other languages that the women of India could read.

[Ezra]

This book has parts of two great works written by an Indian woman at the beginning of the 20th century.

In Sultana's dream she reverses the purdah system (in which women were kept in seclusion) and has men kept in seclusion while women go out openly and run the country. It is very short, but makes excellent points.

Then it has parts of another of Hossain's books that tell true stories that give horrible true stories of conditions of women living in purdah.

I would not recommend this specific edition though, because it only has 24 total pages of Hossain's actual writing, even though she wrote more things that could have been included. The rest of the book is essays by other people. They aren't bad, but it was frustrating how little they included of the author's actual work.

[Mandy Tewell]

I really enjoyed this book. My favorite part was, as always with me, the personal stories of the women. I wish they had included more passages from The Secluded Ones. The format of the book was confusing; I think it would have been effective to put the introduction to Rokeya's life at the very beginning. That way the reader would have more background. Overall, this book was informative and thought provoking. It's fascinating how something written in 1988 about a woman who lived in the early 1900s is still so relevant today.

[Antara]

“Why do you allow yourselves to be shut up? You have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interest.”

'Sultana’s Dream' – the earliest utopian feminist sci-fi to come out of the Indian subcontinent. First of all, I had never heard of the author, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, until I started reading about Bangladesh and 'Sultana’s Dream' came up in two of the books I was reading. I rushed to find a physical copy; unsuccessful and impatient, I ended up purchasing the e-book. And as I read more about her in the biography sections of the book, I realized what a great shame it was that so few knew about her work. Hossain started writing and publishing at the beginning of the 20th century. She never formally attended school, as was the norm for girls at the time, but that didn’t stop her. She was self-taught, even going as far as to learn English with the help of her brother and the encouragement of her older sister. What is quite admirable is that Sultana’s Dream was not a translated work, it was actually written in English by a women in Bangladesh, English being her 4th/5th language. She started writing it out of boredom while her husband was away for work and out of desire to practice her English and impress her husband. 'Sultana’s Dream', first published in 1905 in a English periodical is considered one of the earliest “self-consciously feminist” utopian stories written in English by a woman - now add to that, written by a Bangali woman, and then cherry on top, written by a Muslim woman.

And the things this woman, whose society would have prevented her from having access to a plethora of reading/study material, man the things she packs into this short story – we have a reversal of roles, men fill the stereotypical roles women hold in society and women do all the other “man’s jobs” within this utopia. Its hilarious really, satire almost, with Hossain adding her sarcastic humor into her writing. She effortlessly and succinctly explores the topics of war, violence and crime, female education and the importance of educating girls in subject historically considered men’s area (science, math, etc), the potential of science and the impact of technological advances on society, efficiency in work, leniency in punishment, and even religion. I literally went back and reread the whole story immediately upon finishing it and yes, she explores all that – with humor and accuracy. Another topic that runs through not only 'Sultana’s Dream' but the entire book and her non-fiction reportage, 'The Secluded Ones', is of Purdah . You have to read the anecdotes to believe them, despite how nonsensical and often upsetting they were. Despite that fact that I have lived in a Muslim country as an adult, where I have witnessed only remnants of the Purdah from Hossain’s time, I was still shocked and surprised at how little I knew and understood of the lives of women and of the societal norms of South East Asia a mere 100 years ago.

I could write an essay on Hossain’s work, I could write pages on her life and legacy, all little known by the general reader and that should not be so. She deserves greater readership, even if it to learn about a society, country and a time we in 2021 read little about. Her work deserves greater recognition – she was a fighter, she stood up to a society governed by the ridiculous rules of men and religion and she kept going at it, building schools for girls and advocating for women’s right and using her articles and stories to ignite self-realization in Bangali women and Muslim women. Her pen was a weapon in the crusade for social reform.

Oh did I mention the story has flying cars in it!

[Kavitha]

Sultana's Dream is a short story written by a pioneer of Women's Liberation in South Asia, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (commonly known as Begum Rokeya). This story was first published in a Madras Magazine back in 1905. Reading this story reminded me a bit of Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale', just because of how both authors took a few feminist ideas and showed the readers what it would be like to live in a world where these ideas are implemented. The difference here is Atwood depicted a gloomy, regressive world where women are treated horribly, whereas Rokeya chose the opposite. In her world - Ladyland - the men are confined to the Zenana (or rather a mardana) . A feminist queen rules their world and ensures that all girls are educated. The women are intelligent and efficient. There are air cars, water balloons to harness rain water continuously and solar powered homes, all invented by the women. It's a though provoking, witty and simple story, whose value lies in the fact that it was written over 100 years ago by a forward thinking, liberal, feminist woman.

The book also contains a small collection of essays titles 'The Secluded Ones', also written by Begum Rokeya, whose publication began in 1929 in the Monthly Mohammadi as a series of vignettes documenting women's experiences of purdah. These essays shine a light on the practice of purdah for women, both by Hindu & Muslim communities back in the day. Again, the author's courage to speak up on these subjects, especially during a time when women were expected to confine to the norms and also in a society that looks down upon anyone who stands up against the crowd, is commendable.

The rest of the book has writings of Roshan Jahan (Cofounder and former president of Women for Women, a research and study group in Bangladesh) and Hanna Papanek (an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology, Boston University). Jahan introduces the readers to 'Sultana's Dream' and 'The Secluded Ones'. Papanek wrote the afterword, where she goes into more details about Begum Rokeya's feminist thoughts. She also delves deeper into the Purdah system as it applies to South Asian communities and the various motivations (none of which were in the best interests of the women) that put this system in place and still keeps it going after all these years. It is a call to women to wake up and stand up for themselves because if we don't look after our own interests, no one else will. If Begum Rokeya was able to do this a hundred years ago, we can all certainly figure out how to stand up for ourselves in our own ways in our own daily lives, can't we?

[Sharayu Gangurde]

Reading Sultana's Dream at midnight had wondrous effects on me. Not only did I float in her utopian 'Lady land', but enjoyed it so much as to really dream of being in one. I was stunned in the first few pages with her creative and scientific bend of mind. To think and expound scientific temperament way back in 1905 reveals what an intelligent woman she was! While reading her ideas about solar energy and the cloud storage made me think of her exceptional imaginary powers of mind. I am yet to begin with 'Padmarag', the other collection of stories from later half of the book. I am in love with Begum Rokeya and her daring vision. To think that I always lamented the fact about lack of Indian Feminists and here she is, in all her shining glory. I am so glad she survives and inspires so many.

The other story, Padmarag, didn't really entice me much except when I came to the last 10 pages. Some fierce writing on independent women is in there. I have so much respect and awe for Begum Rokeya for her strong views about society and women, what freedom could do for women and how the coming years would be a new life for millions who would learn to live on their own, given an opportunity to resign from their fate dedicated only to kitchen and marriage. If only the commercial writers from today read her work and learn a thing or two about portraying women as destitute in their fictional works, Indian writing would reach new heights.

[K.]

This took me literally 5 minutes to read at the hairdresser this afternoon. And I'm so glad I picked it up. It's a feminist sci-fi short story written by a Bengali Muslim woman in 1905. Like...HOW CAN YOU PASS THAT UP?!

The gist of the story is that a Sultana (i.e. the wife of a Sultan) falls asleep one afternoon. When she does, she dreams that she's in a place called Ladyland (admittedly, that part could use some work) which is basically a utopia where women are scientists and economists and managers and rulers who work an hour a day because women get shit done while men require seven hours a day to do their work because they spend six hours a day chatting by the water cooler and smoking.

And so after one too many unsuccessful wars, the Queen of this kingdom decided that she was sick of her male prime minister telling her what to do, and decreed that men were to enter the purdah system (basically like a traditional harem) and be secluded from society. As a result, there is no crime, women have invented all kinds of amazing things (like flying cars and solar power and devices to farm automatically), and their religion is one that promotes love and truth above all else.

In other words, this is an Edwardian man's nightmare. Yes, it's a little bit ridiculous. Yes, it's incredibly short and as such it's a little info-dumpy rather than there being any real worldbuilding.

But I don't care, because I WANT TO LIVE THERE PLEASE.

[Surabhi Chatrapathy]

Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was first published in 1905! Considered to be the first feminist story to be published in English in India. The story is a dream, a dreamland where men keep Purdah and women run the world.
Her writing is satirical, razor sharp and extremely progressive.
Questioning the Purdah system, she draws upon topics of women's rights, their struggle and their limitations back then.
I'm amazed by her foresight, her ability to look beyond her situation and question the system.
As someone who was subjected to many of these struggles, she still rose above the situation and argued against it.
Her life and her works are both equally fascinating for me.
I would highly recommend you read her and understand how feminism was by far not an imported idea for the Indian subcontinent

[Kanika Sisodia]

Sultana's Dream, is a feminist utopia written in 1905. The tale address the archaic and cruel practise of seclusion of women and the 'purdah system' prevalent in India. The tale set in Ladyland is a witty tale of reverse seclusion where men confined to the 'zenana' (women's quarters) and women have taken over the public sphere. The Queen and women of Ladyland have defended their country against invasion, non-violently and through scientific advancements by women researchers.

The Secluded Ones are short reports that detail the horrors the women and children had to go through in the name of 'purdah'. The reports are addresses to Bengali women asking them to speak up against this cruel practise and what sufferings will befall them, if they continue to suffer in silence!

[penny shima glanz]

This is another NYPL book, and I can’t recall where I learned of it to put it on my hold list. It was incredibly fascinating to me as I was not familiar with the concept of purdah and was highly curious about that life. Another thing to add to the list of things to research. I found her short story “Ladyland” very fascinating and better than Herland by Charlotte P. Gilman, published a decade later.

[Nitin]

An eye-opening account into the tradition of purdah, and deep analysis of social, economic and other factors that influenced it. Extremely relevant in today's world where we are still struggling to achieve equality between sexes, and have desperate need to shed the notions of dualism of man and woman. Highly recommended!

[Trish]

A wonderful little short story. The intriguing thing about it, is it was written by an Indian woman, in 1905, as a project to show her husband how her studies of English were coming. But even then, she was thinking of things like solar power and electricity to plough the fields. Freely available on the web, I would recommend it to anyone who has a spare fifteen minutes.

[Emily]

A fantastic introduction to the writings of prominent Bengali feminist, educator and activist Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain along with essays and commentary from other women about the issues dealt with in her work: Muslim feminism, purdah, veiling, etc.

I really appreciated the exposure to a tradition of feminism and feminist issues I am largely unfamiliar with in my everyday life.

[Sudha]

Part proto-science fiction, part feminist commentary and research. Both parts made me happy.

[shahmeer qureshi]

This book read more like a compendium of the treatment of women throughout the history of the subcontinent. The utopia and dream part only consisted of like 5% of the book, and it was really intriguing to see the limits to what their imagination were back in the 19th century. However, the whole book felt as if they were taking a very small aspect of the writers life and blowing it out of proportion as well, especially the selections from The Secluded Ones.

People do have to keep in mind the culture and traditions of the subcontinent in those times, and not everything was in accordance with european values back then and presently as well. And this is promiment especially in the latter half of the book, which reads as if its pushing some sort of "feminist" agenda and using such old tradtions and cultures as a sort of scapegoat.

It's a good read if you wanna get into the history of the treatment of women back during the subcontinent, especially regarding the cultures back then. However, the opinions stated in the latter half are not to be taken as seriously. You would have a much better time forming your own opinions then following the editors excerpts blindly.

[Isly]

I’m so glad I got to learn about such an interesting and inspiring women, as Rokeya is truly an OG feminist pioneer. I wish they had included all of the sections of The Secluded One’s tho.
I also might have to go back and rewatch Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece, The Big City, cause these essays really helped me understand more context about Bengali / Indian women’s rights and advancement

[Sumayyah]

Rokeya’s actual work was really good with loads potential for more literary analysis - associated essays were interesting but ultimately limited in their scope (esp the last one). Would have been interesting to mention just how drastically purdah has changed in a post-1971 structuring of gender, sexuality and virginity.

[Valerie]

love reading stories of this nature written a long time ago or are the first of its kind. so cool!!

[Kynan]

This was very much not what I expected. I decided to read this because I just finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and I wasn't sure how to proceed with reading other things after 14 books worth of no choices.

I heard about "Sultana's Dream" on episode 24 of the New Scientist Podcast, where it was brought up in relation to the UAE Mars mission launching today (as I write this anyway), along with A Journey To Mars. I knew it was a short-story, and I wanted that whilst I continued in my indecision about what larger chunk of reading I would devote myself to next. What I didn't realise was quite how short this story actually was, the very first person to read it (the author's husband) actually did so after walking in the door one evening between coming in and saying "Hi, whatcha been up to" and sitting down - you can cruise through it in twenty minutes or less.

To my modern eye (this being first published in 1905), it's a pretty amatuerish story of role-reversal in Muslim India. Interestingly though on the science-fiction front, Rokeya was on-the-ball with her knowledge of air-travel, showing an at least passing familiarity with hydrogen as a weight-negator (first used for successful human flight by Henri Giffard of France in 1852, according to britannica.com) and helicopter-like propellers (the first of which didn't practically turn up until 1922) and she sketches some interesting ideas about water and energy collection through balloon/pipe systems.

Overall, the story isn't really about science though, it's more about how women are trapped by the Muslim practice of purdah, preventing them from having any significant effect on the world and specifically pointing out how, if they were freed of purdah, and swapped places with men, the world would become a scientific utopia with all the antagonistic and lazy men out of the way.

But this book isn't just about "Sultana's Dream". It's about painting a picture of the author and the time in which she lived and then reading "Sultana's Dream" in that light. I actually went back and re-read the short-story after finishing the rest of the book and it does make a difference to one's perception.

Following on from the short-story is a selection of "reports" from a book Rokeya compiled of reports about purdah in the early 1900's in India, specifically about how terrible and inhumane it was. Rokeya was an early and indefatigable fighter for the rights of women, specifically Muslim women and their right to education and some expression of free-will. Rokeya actually set up a school for Muslim girls in Bhagalpur in 1909, moving a couple of years later to Kolkata (which I still thought was Calcutta, but apparently changed back in 2001).

Anyway, the point is that the stories about what women in purdah endured, including the final one in the collection about the school bus she had to jury rig to get her students to school without them being observed, I found horrific. The third, and final, part of the book is a long essay on Rokeya, British colonialism and the impact that had on the internal dynamics of India's Muslim and Hindu populations - an interesting coincidence of things to ponder in the current period of racial readjustment! I actually found myself briefly disoriented when the words written by Hanna Papanek in the afterword "Caging the Lion: A Fable for Our Time" almost exactly duplicated the thoughts and feelings of Reni Eddo-Lodge talking the slave port docks in Liverpool and Papanek's thoughts about female persecution as she walked the Karachi market and docks.

For someone blithely unaware of the religious make-up of India and Pakistan, this last section was really eye-opening. A lot is said about how a woman's honor is tied to associated men's honor and pride and how that link can cause the seemingly insane decision to do things up to and including murdering the woman in question:

One might imagine that making men’s honor entirely dependent on women’s actions—as in the statements noted earlier—gives women considerable power over men’s “derivative” honor. A woman might threaten to ruin a man’s reputation by disobedience. But it does not work out that way, for several reasons.

First, a man’s honor is terribly important to him; in some groups, it is the most cherished attribute, one for which he may be ready to die or to kill. Men have physical and legal power over women: They initiate divorce and can send women back to their families. Depending on the specific type of Islamic personal law in force in a country, women may also be able to initiate divorce; recent legislation in some countries also limits men’s power to initiate unilateral divorce. But this is unheard of in those groups where violence is used to defend family honor. Men in such groups often beat women, and, in extreme cases, their concern for personal and family honor may prompt them to kill a female relative who has violated the group’s code of conduct. Such killings, like “crimes of passion” elsewhere, are condoned by the community.

It would be nice to sum this up as "religion is bad" and smugly move on, but I don't really think that's the case. Religion can be a useful crutch to many people and there's no ignoring the fact that a significant portion of the selflessly good deeds done in the world today, and in the past, are attributable to religious organisiations (and despite what I thought, apparently only 7% of known conflicts can be directly attributed to religion - although I'm going to read up a little on that later).

This booklet in it's entirety does a good job of introducing the naive to the concept of Purdah, but also provides a pretty compelling view of why one can't, or might not wish to, "throw off the shackles or religion", even if they are the hard-done-by party in a given situation.

Overall, it's not compelling science-fiction, but it's definitely an interesting read on the subject of the Muslim religion, the feminist movement back in the very early 1900's and yet more of the inadvertent impact that British colonialism had on the world!

[Gabriel]

Sultana's Dream is an excellent collection of feminist works by and about Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, a Bengali Muslim feminist reformer who lived in colonial India. The book includes her "Sultana's Dream," an enchanting and satirical story about a utopian matriarchal society called Ladyland. The book's editor, Roushan Jahan, presents selections from The Secluded Ones, Rokeya's book about absurd, tragic, and hilarious instances in which men and women strictly observed purdah (the Muslim and Hindu seclusion of women) despite its impracticality in their lives. Rokeya even writes about how she experienced purdah.

Two essays by Jahan place "Sultana's Dream" and The Secluded Ones in their historical context. Her essay "Rokeya: An Introduction to Her Life" is a fantastic biography of its subject, demonstrating her opposition to patriarchy and her establishment of a girl's school. She focused on Muslim women in purdah, but she described Hindu women, too.

In the final essay, "Caging the Lion: A Fable for Our Time," Hannah Papanek explains that purdah survives in contemporary Muslim and Hindu societies. I particularly enjoyed reading about Hamida Khala, a woman whom Papanek interviewed, showing that she abandoned purdah because of her progressive husband, who allowed her to have a more liberated lifestyle. Another interesting topic is the influence of Jewish and Christian views of male-female relations, which affected Islamic views. Papanek illustrates the conservative Muslim justifications for restoring purdah in countries such as Pakistan despite women's resistance to it.

[Akansha]

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/22/1400918...

"It is hard to believe this book was published in 1905 by a young woman in colonial India. It is one of the earliest known modern depictions of a feminist utopia — the story of a make-believe world called Ladyland in which gender roles are reversed: There the women are free to work and hold positions of power, while the men are kept sequestered in prisons called mardanas (this is a play on words — in Hossain's time, women were relinquished to a part of the house called zenana, and mard is the Urdu word for man)."

Taken from "In A Girls-Only World, A Land Of Brainy Beauty" by TAHMIMA ANAM

[Cassy]

Super interesting! I loved reading from Rokeya herself and I'm glad that I read her work through this collection with added context and background. I can understand how they might feel at times repetitive or that they haven't added much for those who are super familiar with the background and history of the work but for me it was much appreciated! My education and understanding of feminist movements, backgrounds, and histories is unfortunately quite limited to the Americas. So the additional essays served a great purpose. I'm excited to continue exploring and learning through these histories in finding commonalities between the struggles shared by women globally.