Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein composed Sultana’s Dream in English and published it in Indian Ladies Magazine in 1905. The text speaks of her attitude toward Muslim patriarchy and her belief that Indian men and women were, as Bharati Ray notes in her Early Feminists of Colonial India, “willing collaborators in their own oppressions”, and that men’s selfishness and women’s mental slavery were/are the two factors causing the degradation of women in India. In her work of fiction she speaks of the middle-class Muslim woman who is doubly oppressed, first for being Muslim and second for being a woman. Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein is primarily concerned with the empowerment of women through education and awareness which are crucial for development.

1. Shinjinee Chakraborty
Professor Jai Singh
M.A. English
H-1559
20 September 2014
Types of Feminism in Sultana’s Dream
Feminism according to the Oxford Dictionary means “the advocacy of
women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” The issue of rights for women
first became prominent during the French and American revolutions in the late 18th century.
In India the feminist movement was initiated when the European colonizers spoke out against
social evils like sati and “purdah”. In fact feminism in India can be divided into three phases:
the first phase, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, initiated when male European
colonists began to speak out against the social evils of ‘Sati’; the second phase, from 1915 to
Indian independence, when Gandhi incorporated women's movements into the Quit India
movement and independent women's organisations began to emerge and finally, the third
phase, post-independence, which has focused on fair treatment of women at home after
marriage, in the work force and right to political parity. Like others, feminists in India seek
gender equality: the right to work for equal wages, the right to equal access to health
and education, and equal political rights. Therefore feminism is actually a set of movements
aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and
equal opportunities for women. It is the pursuit of women's rights within the society.
The feminist movement started in India as early as the European colonizing took
place when both European and Indian upper caste educated men were speaking out against
the abject conditions in which our women lived and were treated. Raja Rammohan Roy,

2. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar were a few to speak about women and try to bring about changes
in their lives but women themselves rarely spoke about their own condition. It was much later
in the 1905s that female writers actually started revolting against the norms and social
structure that stifled them thus, giving air to their true feelings especially by way of writing.
Writing was the only means available to them to vent to their feelings and many women
resorted to writing in order to make themselves heard in a world where they were considered
to be the other, the second sex. Among the initial few women writers who came to the fore
and challenged the societal structure was Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein. She was a colonial
Bengal woman writer who wrote about women and the abysmal condition of her life in her
books. She openly challenged the set social order by reversing the setup and declaring that a
world ruled by women and women sensibilities would be far better and superior to the one
currently under the leadership of men. In her personal life as well she challenged set norms
by getting English education from her brother and by setting up a school for girls which was
later called the Sakhwath Hossain Memorial Girl’s school (1910) and also placed a strong
restriction of ‘burqa’ (veils). Her works are often characterised by feministic viewpoint which
leads her to create strong women characters. As Prasita Mukherjee says in her essay
Revolutionizing Agency: Sameness and Difference in the Representation of Women by
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and Mahasweta Devi “she covers a wide trajectory while
elucidating on the importance of women’s education. Though her non-fiction is primarily
concerned with the benefit of the family, her fiction affirms that women must be educated to
be able to fend for themselves and be economically independent. In the process the existence
of men is de-recognized. Moreover, in the feminist utopian world they become the powerless
group whereas the women control the state.” She was, then, the first female writer of science
fiction in the Indian subcontinent much before feminist and science-fiction writing became
fashionable. In this paper my aim will be to explore feminism from the perspective of the

3. different schools of feminist thought i.e. radical, liberal, cultural socialist and eco feminism in
reference to her feminist science fiction novel Sultana’s Dream.
Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein composed Sultana’s Dream in English and published it
in Indian Ladies Magazine in 1905. The text speaks of her attitude toward Muslim patriarchy
and her belief that Indian men and women were, as Bharati Ray notes in her Early Feminists
of Colonial India, “willing collaborators in their own oppressions”, and that men’s selfishness
and women’s mental slavery were/are the two factors causing the degradation of women in
India. In her work of fiction she speaks of the middle-class Muslim woman who is doubly
oppressed, first for being Muslim and second for being a woman. Rokheya Shekhawat
Hossein is primarily concerned with the empowerment of women through education and
awareness which are crucial for development.
The work opens with the protagonist “lounging in an easy chair” and thinking about
“the condition of Indian womanhood”. The tone of revolt has been set right in the beginning
when being a woman, that too a Muslim ‘purdahnashin’, woman she is thinking of the
woman question in the Indian context. It was in the 1905s when this is happening and it is
true that, as Partha Chatterjee argues in Nationalist Resolution of the Woman Question
that,“the woman’s question was the central issue in nineteenth century debates on Indian
nationalism”. But the woman was not involved in this kind of dialogue, she would not even
dare to think about her own condition let alone that of the entire of womankind. It was a time
when women of the subcontinent would not think themselves useful for the society. Hence,
when she thinks about the woman condition she is actually breaking the set pattern, breaking
free of the patriarchal society as propounded by the radical feminists. Radical feminism
Radical feminists talk about upheaval of patriarchal social structure to liberate women as
being essential. Society had always told women that they are weak, incapable of certain
things and it is this that she breaks when she thinks about her fellow women. Here she

4. behaves like the radical feminists who believed that not just political equality but also a social
awakening needs to happen. The fact that Rokheya dares to think about womankind and not
the men is a change of thought process and a breaking of the patriarchal way of thinking. As
Mukti Lakhi says in her essay “Rokheya’s feminism is communal” where she thinks about
womankind in general. When she says, “I was wide awake” when actually she was asleep, it
shows that she was capable of being awake to the condition of women in her sleeping state
alone. In her consciousness, though awake in the superficial sense it is in her unconscious
state that she is awake in the true sense of the word.
Following this instance another instance of radical feminism could be found in
Rokheya’s walk with the supposed Sister Sarah
“I looked again at the moon through the open window, and thought there was no
harm in going out at that time. The men-servants outside were fast asleep just then,
and I could have a pleasant walk with Sister Sara.”
For Rokheya taking a walk is possible only when the world outside is sleeping. In this world
a woman is lower than even the servants because she is a woman. It is only when they sleep
that she can take a walk. Even to walk before male servants a woman will have to think a
million times. Limitations have been put on something that should have been natural freedom
because of social construct and patriarchal social condition. Nostalgia of her previous days of
freedom is seen when she comments how she used to “walk hand in hand and talk light-
heartedly in the botanical gardens” with Sister Sara in Darjeeling. The fact that she “readily
accepted her offer and went out with her” shows how she had to curb her desires to conform
to the ideal of a woman. She had enjoyed freedom before but now was forced to refrain
which could be a result of her having grown up into a woman. Later when she walks about
with Sara she confirms “feeling very shy, thinking I was walking in the street in broad
daylight”. Why should a woman be shy of walking about without ‘burqa’ or of walking in

5. daylight? That in ladyland the women do not wear burqa is a sig of radical feminism where
the veil has been discarded and the women do ot have to hide themselves for the sake of
‘honour’
“In India man is lord and master, he has taken to himself all powers and privileges
and shut up the women in the zenana.”
This comment by Sister Sara is a true representation of the Indian women of not just then but
even today. Even today when we are apparently modern, a million restrictions are placed on
the women. They are restricted from entering certain religious or educational institutions, not
allowed to speak their minds, are not asked their opinion even in matters which concern their
lives like marriage or motherhood. Everything happens according to the age old patriarchal
norms where the woman is almost a parasite. The fact that Rokheya goes out with Sara is this
breaking of convention which radical feminism advocates. In the same strain of radical
feminism a reversal of patriarchal society, reversal of set social order happens where the male
is seen in a very different light. When she walks, Rokheya is told, “you look very mannish”
since she “is shy and timid”. It is the exact opposite of what societal order has been for so
long. In the real world it is the women who are shy and timid. Also when it comes to the
question of trade the Queen of Ladyland specifies, “no trade was possible with countries
where the women were kept in the zenanas” as they found men to be ‘of lower morals.” The
traditional tasks of a woman have been relegated to the men in Ladyland essentially “to mind
babies, to cook and to do all sorts of domestic work” while the “ladies rule over the country
and control all social matters.” A complete reversal of the established patriarchal society is
seen in this work of science fiction and this is exactly that which radical feminist wanted to
achieve here.
Other than radical feminism the other branch of feminism that is quite explicitly seen here is
that of cultural feminism which believes that the feminine qualities are to be celebrated and

6. not be ashamed of. They feel that a woman’s perception has to change in order to bring about
true liberation. She cannot afford to accept the idea of her being weak in comparison to the
male. As is seen in Sultana’s Dream Rokheyha often mentions women being weaker than
men. When Sister Sara says that it is unfair to keep women locked up in ‘zenanas’ she
defends her own imprisonment with “it is not safe for us to come out of the ‘zenana’, as we
are naturally weak.” She is rather shocked to hear of the ‘mardanas’ being the ‘proper places’
of men in Ladyland. It is the woman who is seen to be accepting the fact that she is weak, she
doubts her own strength. This lack of self confidence is what the cultural feminists rises up
against. On the contrary when she is talking about the man Rokheya is very confident. She is
very sure that the men “work all the seven hours” and that “political and commercial issues
are to be be handled by them alone. There is evidence of immense trust that she has on the
man in general, but at the same time she has to trust in herself and see herself as equally
strong, if not physically then mentally, emotionally and intellectually as the men. It will not
help her cause if she herself declares that she is weak and as Arthur Schopenhauer argues in
his essay "Of Women" (1851) that — "...they are themselves childish, frivolous and short-
sighted, in a word, they are big children in all their life long....”1 The idea of physical strength
being the only criterion for men to dominate women has to be removed. She cannot say, as
Rokheya does in the narrative, they rule over women because “they are stronger than
women.” This mindset is also a result of indoctrination that men are biologically stronger
than women and hence has every right to dominate over them. Religious texts such as The
Holy Bible, The Quran and Manusmriti have done their bit in developing this negative
attitude that women have towards their own selves. The Bible says,
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” …
And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought
1 Schopenhauer, Arthur. T.B. Saunders tr, "Of Women" in Complete Essays of Schopenhauer.
New York: Willey Book Company, 1942, Book V, p. 72 73

7. her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man”2
that Eve was created out of Adam’s ribs solely for giving company to Man, The Quran states
“Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and
because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient” and
Manusmriti
Na ast strinam prithaga yagyo na wratam napyu poshanam
Patim shushrushte yen ten swarge mahiyate.3 (Manusmriti– 5/158).4
that women has been created to serve her husband, has led to women believing that they
indeed are no better than servants, forever to be dependent on the three males in her life, the
father, the husband and the son. Cultural feminists say that she will have to see herself as n
individual first and then a family member.
Cultural feminists also give importance to celebration of feminine values, identity and
work. They feel it is important that the woman celebrates her feminity. She is not supposed to
shy away from things; here for instance, it is walking about without a ‘burqa’. Also there
existed and still exists a view that the work that a woman does is not important, the values
that she represents such as qualities of love, affection, patience and compromise are weak.
2 (1 Timothy 2:8-14)
3 women have no divine right to perform any religious ritual, nor make vows or observe a
fast. Her only duty is to obey and please her husband and she will for that reason alone be
exalted in heaven
4 women have no divine right to perform any religious ritual, nor make vows or observe a
fast. Her only duty is to obey and please her husband and she will for that reason alone be
exalted in heaven

8. Here Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein celebrates women’s work of the time, namely embroidery.
The fact that in Ladyland they “do not trust our zenana members with embroidery!” shows
how important embroidery was, it demanded a special set of skills to excel at it and by not
letting men do embroidery “as a man has not patience enough to pass thread through a needle
hole even!” they celebrate the feminine vale of patience like a cultural feminist. Every
woman is to value her identity as a female and the values even when patriarchal society
regards them to be weak values when compared to male/strong values such as honour,
chivalry bravery. As Sister Sara says “you (women) have neglected the duty you owe to
yourselves and you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests.”
She is not to be ashamed of herself in any case and not to consider herself weak or
incapacitated in any way. She is not to take herself as an object; she is as much a human
being as her male counterpart.
Moving on to liberal feminism, they talk of political equality for women. The basis
for the argument is that all people are created equal by God and there had to be a legislation
confirming the same. They believed in guaranteeing this equality and freedom for women via
legislations or parliamentary acts. A similar instance is seen when their Queen, who had a
liking for science, “circulated an order that all the women in her country should be educated”
and a number of girls’ schools were founded and education was spread among women. Also
no woman was allowed to marry before she was twenty-one. She also changed the ‘purdah’
system that they lived in. Here by way of passing an order she does something similar to
passing a legislative act guaranteeing liberty for women similar to the liberal feminists. The
fact that the marriageable age for women was made twenty one and the ‘purdah’ system
abolished shows also a similarity to the radical feminists where there is a refurbishing of the
patriarchal social system. But the greatest change that came about as a result of this order is

9. that females gained access to a branch of education that was long denied to them, science. As
Susmita Roye in her essay, Sultana’s Dream’ vs. Rokeya’s Reality: A study of one
of the ‘Pioneering’ feminist science fictions points out, “it was a world where ‘“science” was
equivalent to “modern”. However, women’s education was not expected to be ‘modern’ and
thus, science was not seen as important for them as it was not deemed to be needed to prepare
them for their domestic lives.” Once the order was passed females employed themselves in
discoveries and came up with inventions like solar heat harvesting and rain water harvesting.
Gaining access to the subject was possible only after the order had been passed similar to
liberal feminism that believes in making legislative acts to guarantee freedom to women. As
Mukti Lakhi comments “education was geared towards making women well-rounded citizens
rather than homemakers.” In Ladyland science was associated to ease works that were
considered feminine such s cooking, ensuring water supply thus showing an amalgamation of
cultural and radical feminism, which are in reality in opposition to each other. In spite of such
ground breaking work the males chose to call their endeavours “a sentimental nightmare” but
the credit lay in the fact that this kind of criticism did not dissuade them but encouraged them
to move forward, achieving more greatness. This is exactly what liberal feminists talk about,
maximising given opportunities and making a mark for oneself in the scheme of things. In her
Ladyland, Shekahwat Hossein is able to get what she does not in the real world, a social order
which gives the women space to breathe and be herself.
The other branch of feminism that becomes evident here is eco feminism which talks
about nature and women being one and the same, to associate women with nature and its
fertility. In Sultana’s Dream Fayeza Hasanat in Sultana’s Utopian Awakening: An
Ecocritical Reading of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream, says“Women in
Ladyland create a harmonious relationship with nature...Nature works for the benefit of
women’s progress and provides women with the resources they need to implement a

10. harmonious relationship between science, women and environment.” There is almost a
sacrosanct relation between them where being ruled by ladies everything was perfect for
instance a patch of green grass looked like a velvet cushion, they “were not subject to any
kind of epidemic disease, nor did they suffer from mosquito bites” or floods or
thundershowers. Their progress in science and inventions such as the ‘water balloon’ and the
solar heat reservoir was not only due to scientific study but also by a mutual understanding
between women and nature, they “enjoy Nature’s gift as much as we can.” The idea of nature
being enjoyed is important where the women do not put undue pressure on natural laws to
fulfil their needs as is the case in a world ruled by men where nature is not taken into account.
But feminism in reality does not mean anti-male. The true meaning of feminism is to
liberate both male and females from gender specific roles, they are to be freed from
stereotypical roles that they have so far played. Its major concern is liberating women from
confines but it also means liberating men from unfair stereotypical roles. In Sultana’s Dream
Rokheya Shekhwawat Hossian misses this point. Her feminism is essentially anti-male like
the liberal feminists. The solution she provides for women emancipation is confining the
males in ‘Mardanas’, to “shut our men indoors” is not a solution. Rokheya likens men to be
embodiments of evil when she says “this is Ladyland, free from sin and harm. Virtue herself
reigns here.” Her idea of man being equal to harm and woman as representative of virtue is
not entirely acceptable. The idea that “men are capable of doing no end of mischief” is
evidence of her angst against the men who had so far kept the woman locked up in their
homes but it goes against the actual spirit of feminism. Also the ladies are not allowed to “see
any man except sacred relations.” This is almost similar to autocracy where family relation
have to be severed just because of biological identity. It is not a very healthy sign of living.
Feminism is not a weapon to be used against the males but rather to liberate all kinds of
unfair rules on institutions. This idea of seclusion is seen even with regard to educational

11. institutions i.e. the two universities where she says, “we had separate universities, where no
men were admitted.” Here there is the reversal of earlier set up where the erstwhile now
victimizer is victimized as Nilanjana Bhattacharya in her essay, Two Dystopian Fantasies
says that the novella aims at the “reversing the existing hierarchy, projects men as worthless
beings, inferior to women” —will not work in favour of liberation but will garner the feeling
of revenge. The idea by Mukti Lakhi in An Alternative Feminist Modernity: Fantastic Utopia
and the Quest for Home in Sultana’s Dream “before we go out the men must enter the
zenanas…for the sake of honor and liberty ” is deliberately ridiculous, endorsing the
entrapment of men for the sake of freedom, two contradictory terms, and garnering the sense
of revenge alone. Feminism essentially is about breaking gender roles, this kind of seclusion,
sense of exclusivity does not liberate rather just reverses the existing social order, it becomes
a matriarchal society where the man is oppressed as in Sultana’s Dream, likened to evil and
are kept in ‘mardanas’.
Inherent contradiction also lies in the fact about eco feminism. It is true that nature
and women are likened as being complementary but the idea to make nature yield as much as
she can has a negative strain to it. It almost seems that nature is controlled by the women and
not the other way round. If so then it is nothing better than the treatment meted out to nature
in the man’s world. The disdain is seen again when she says, “they are street flowers.” The
level of caring should have been the same whether it be a street flower or one grown in a
nursery. If nature and women were really one and same then a liberation of women should
have also meant a liberation of nature from the grasps of man or womankind.
Rokeya story can be seen as the first feminist science fiction and her feminist utopia is
shaped by the thoughts of her age where women rule, enjoy freedom, benefit from education
and are not forced into child-marriage. But this vision is not rid of certain cultural prejudices
of its society. Seclusion is still strictly practised. Men must remain confined in ‘mardanas’ so

12. that women can function outdoors. In fact, their seclusion is imminent to allow women to
step out of home (without the fear of being ogled by strange men) to defend their honour.
Rokeya’s utopia is, then, sexist and depends upon the deprivation and exploitation of a
section of society. Now, men are confined and are denied privileges of equality and freedom.
But understanding this negative impression Bharati Ray speaks in defence, ‘It was not
revenge; it was rebellion … against the evils of a system that kept women subjugated,
humiliated, and subservient, and Sultana’s Dream was symbolic of that protest.” Though
going against the spirit of feminism Sultana’s Dream exhibits characteristics of liberal
feminism, radical, cultural and eco feminism. Though it marginalises men in the quest for
liberating women it is the true condition of women of the age.

13. Works Cited
Chatterjee Partha, Nationalist Resolution of the Woman Question, in Kumkum Sangari and
Sudesh Vaid (eds.),Recasting Women, New Delhi: Oxford UP, 1990. Print
Hasnat Fayeza, Sultana’s Utopian Awakening: An Ecocritical Reading of Rokeya Sakhawat
Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream. Asiatic Journal Volume 7 Number 2, 2013. Web
Lakhi Mukti, An Alternative Feminist Modernity: Fantastic Utopia and the Quest for Home
in Sultana’s Dream, Cambridge University,United Kingdom,2006. Web
Mukherjee Prasita Revolutionizing Agency: Sameness and Difference in the Representation of
Women by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and Mahasweta Devi, Volume 2 Number 1 Philosophy
in Literature:Generation and transformation in Gender and Postdependency Discourse
Krakow, 2012. Web
Ray Bharati, Early Feminists of Colonial India, New Delhi: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.
Roye Susmita ‘Sultana’s Dream’ vs. Rokeya’s Reality: A sudy of one of the ‘Pioneering’
feminist science fiction, Kunapipi: Journal of Postcolonial Writing and Culture Volume 34
Issue 2 (2012). Web
Schopenhauer, Arthur. T.B. Saunders tr, "Of Women" in Complete Essays of Schopenhauer.
New York: Willey Book Company, 1942, Book V, p. 72-73. Print.