Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) was a pioneering feminist writer, educationist and activist in colonial Bengal, who not only sought to emancipate women from the deeply entrenched values of Indian social and cultural patriarchy through her darkly satirical and provocative writings, but also activ...

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Main Author:	Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
Format:	Article
Language:	English English
Published:	Sage 2016
Subjects:	L Education (General) LA History of education PE English PN Literature (General) PN0080 Criticism
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/1/Journal_of_Human_Values-2016-Quayum-139-50_%281%29.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/4/50496-Gender_and_Education_SCOPUS.pdf

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recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-504962017-01-06T06:42:30Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain Quayum, Mohammad Abdul L Education (General) LA History of education PE English PN Literature (General) PN0080 Criticism Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) was a pioneering feminist writer, educationist and activist in colonial Bengal, who not only sought to emancipate women from the deeply entrenched values of Indian social and cultural patriarchy through her darkly satirical and provocative writings, but also actively pursued her idea of empowering women through education by setting up a school for Muslim girls. This paper will investigate Rokeya’s feminist ideology and her educational programmes undertaken for the betterment of Indian women, especially Bengali Muslim women. I intend to argue that although born into an orthodox family and brought up in strict purdah without any formal education, Rokeya had that rare foresight and courage to challenge the social status quo of her time and ridicule many of the outmoded gender practices in her writings, and even turn gender relations upside down by creating a Ladyland in her utopian narrative Sultana’s Dream (1905), in which men are confined to indoors while women run the state. Moreover, she was practical enough to reify her vision by taking steps to eradicate women’s ignorance and invigorate their sense of self, by setting up a school in Calcutta and by running programmes to educate slum women through the association for Muslim women, Anjuman-i-Khwateen-i-Islam, which she founded in 1916 – all at a time when Indian Muslim women were expected to live in confinement in the zenana, and any attempt to educate them was seen as blasphemous. Sage 2016-05 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/1/Journal_of_Human_Values-2016-Quayum-139-50_%281%29.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/4/50496-Gender_and_Education_SCOPUS.pdf Quayum, Mohammad Abdul (2016) Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. Journal of Human Values, 22 (2). pp. 139-150. ISSN 971-6858 E-ISSN 0973-0737 http://jhv.sagepub.com/content/22/2/125.abstract 10.1177/0971685815627946
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English English
topic	L Education (General) LA History of education PE English PN Literature (General) PN0080 Criticism
spellingShingle	L Education (General) LA History of education PE English PN Literature (General) PN0080 Criticism Quayum, Mohammad Abdul Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
description	Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) was a pioneering feminist writer, educationist and activist in colonial Bengal, who not only sought to emancipate women from the deeply entrenched values of Indian social and cultural patriarchy through her darkly satirical and provocative writings, but also actively pursued her idea of empowering women through education by setting up a school for Muslim girls. This paper will investigate Rokeya’s feminist ideology and her educational programmes undertaken for the betterment of Indian women, especially Bengali Muslim women. I intend to argue that although born into an orthodox family and brought up in strict purdah without any formal education, Rokeya had that rare foresight and courage to challenge the social status quo of her time and ridicule many of the outmoded gender practices in her writings, and even turn gender relations upside down by creating a Ladyland in her utopian narrative Sultana’s Dream (1905), in which men are confined to indoors while women run the state. Moreover, she was practical enough to reify her vision by taking steps to eradicate women’s ignorance and invigorate their sense of self, by setting up a school in Calcutta and by running programmes to educate slum women through the association for Muslim women, Anjuman-i-Khwateen-i-Islam, which she founded in 1916 – all at a time when Indian Muslim women were expected to live in confinement in the zenana, and any attempt to educate them was seen as blasphemous.
format	Article
author	Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
author_facet	Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
author_sort	Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
title	Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
title_short	Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
title_full	Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
title_fullStr	Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
title_full_unstemmed	Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
title_sort	gender and education: the vision and activism of rokeya sakhawat hossain
publisher	Sage
publishDate	2016
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/1/Journal_of_Human_Values-2016-Quayum-139-50_%281%29.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/50496/4/50496-Gender_and_Education_SCOPUS.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:11:22Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:11:22Z
_version_	1777411275066703872

Gender and education: the vision and activism of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

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