Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Who is Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain?

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was a pioneering feminist thinker, writer and educator whose work laid the foundations for women's emancipation in Bengal. Born on 9 December 1880 in Pairaband village in the Rangpur district, she was largely self-taught, secretly learning Bengali and English with the help of her elder siblings despite the restrictions placed on women of her background. She is best remembered for her 1905 English-language short story Sultana's Dream, a witty feminist utopia in which women run a peaceful, scientifically advanced society while men are secluded. Her Bengali writings, including the essays collected in Abarodhbasini (The Secluded Women), sharply criticised the practice of purdah and the denial of education to women. After the death of her husband she founded the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in Kolkata in 1911, which endures to this day, and she established the Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Islam to advocate for Muslim women. She died on 9 December 1932. Her birth and death anniversary is observed in Bangladesh as Rokeya Day.

Sources: Hossain, Rokeya Sakhawat. Sultana's Dream, 1905 · Hossain, Rokeya Sakhawat. Abarodhbasini (The Secluded Women), 1931 · Jahan, Roushan (trans.). Sultana's Dream and Selections from The Secluded Ones, 1988