Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain wrote Sultana's Dream, one of the earliest depictions of a feminist utopia, in 1905. It is surprising that such a depiction came from the pen of a young Muslim woman from colonial Bengal. An activist and an educator, she also wrote several other groundbreaking novels and short stories. She believed that women in her society were held back because of ignorance about their own rights and responsibilities.
In 1909, she set up the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School – the first school in Bengal for Muslim women – with five students. She went from door to door persuading Muslim families to allow their daughters to attend school. Many of the women of my grandmother's generation attended the school, becoming the first women in their families to become literate.
In 1916, Sakhawat Hossain founded the Muslim Women's Society, an organisation that was at the forefront of the fight for women's education and employment. Its members advocated women's legal and political rights, sponsored girls to attend school, gave shelter to orphans, and offered legal and financial assistance to widows. It was the cornerstone of the women's movement in Bengal, and paved the way for the vibrant and politically progressive feminist movement in contemporary Bangladesh.
Sakhawat Hossain often used humour and satire to criticise the role of women in Muslim societies. When she was asked, in 1926, to chair the Bengal women's educational conference, she said: "Although I am grateful to you for the respect that you have expressed towards me by inviting me to preside over the conference, I am forced to say that you have not made the right choice. I have been locked up in the socially oppressive iron casket of 'porda' for all my life. I have not been able to mix very well with people – as a matter of fact, I do not even know what is expected of a chairperson. I do not know if one is supposed to laugh, or to cry."