Digital Object Identifier
Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream introduces one of the pioneering feminist Utopias in Indian English literature, in which gender roles are completely reversed to challenge patriarchy. Ladyland is a society controlled by women and recognised for peace, intellectual clarity, and scientific progress. Rokeya highlights the absurdity of masculine dominance and the suppression of women under purdah. The story makes use of irony and the exchange of power to critique masculine hegemony and imagine an unbiased societal structure. This paper investigates how Rokeya reconstructs the inherited roles of masculinity and femininity by positioning females as intellectual, political, and moral leaders, while males are marginalised in domestic domains. Utilising a feminist lens, the study examines how Sultana’s Dream not only contemplates a world free from patriarchal constraints but also offers an interpretation of gender roles within the dominant institutional power dynamics of colonial India. The paper ultimately argues that Rokeya’s dream of the society "Ladyland" is not merely an imagination but a groundbreaking act of reframing women’s empowerment and potential in a male-dominated society.
Ms. Rachna, and Dr.Nandini Sharma. “From Purdah to Power: A study of Feminist Utopia in Sultana’s Dream.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 193–206. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.12.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
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