Breaking Barriers: Exploring Feminist Discourses about Female Education and Purdah in Begum Rokeya’s Sultana’s Dream & Malala Yousafzai’s I am Malala
Abstract
This study explores feminist perspectives on female education and the practice of purdah through a comparative analysis of Sultana’s Dream by Begum Rokeya and I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai. Although their works were written in different times and places, both of them focus on the struggles women face while trying to get an education and be part of public life as traditional gender roles restrict their lifestyle. Begum Rokeya’s Sultana’s Dream is a short story about an imaginary world where women are free, educated, and they control society instead of men. In this world, the gender role is reversed. She imagines a world where men stay at home, and women use their intelligence and science to create a peaceful society. It shows if women are given chances, they can come up with positive changes to the world. On the other hand, Malala Yousafzai’s I Am Malala is a real-life story about her fight for girls’ education in Pakistan. In her country, strict rules and cultural traditions are used to stop girls from going to school because the men in her society think sending women outside will not maintain their purdah. Malala speaks out against this and stands up for her right to learn. She does not stop her rebel even in dangerous situation. This paper compares both texts and shows how each writer, in her own way, fights against unfair rules that limit women. Rokeya uses imagination to show what could be possible, while Malala uses her real-life experience to show what is still happening today. Both stories explore how education is important for women as well as men and being in purdah should not limit them.
Keyword: Female Education, Purdah, Feminist Discourses, Barriers, Empowerment, Resistance.
