Question

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born in a well-to-do Bengali Muslim family and was lucky to have a husband who was very liberal in outlook and encouraged her education, first in Urdu and later in Bengali and English. She was already a successful author in Urdu and Bengali when she wrote Sultana’s Dream to test her abilities in English.

Why was Sultana’s Dream considered a remarkable short story, in context of struggle for women’s equality and rights?

Answer 1

This remarkable short story is probably the earliest example of science fiction writing in India and among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world. In her dream, Sultana visits a magical country where the gender roles are reversed. Men are confined to the home and observe ‘purdah’ while women are busy scientists vying with each other at inventing devices that will control the clouds and regulate rain and machines that fly or ‘air-cars’.