On SULTANA’S DREAM:

“I'd been wanting to draw my version of this for a long time — Sultana's Dream is a story written in 1905 by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, a Muslim feminist writer & social reformer from British-India (present-day Bangladesh). She describes a feminist utopia that was a mirror-image to the world she lived in; one where the men are kept indoors (called mardana as opposed to zenana spaces), & the women run the country.

Called Ladyland, this society also presents a feminist version of science: where solar and electric energy is used to power labor-saving devices in industry & agriculture; the weather is harnessed using balloons; & women work in labs & kitchens and have time to have fun & enjoy their lives.

Rokeya had lived a life in purdah & seclusion in her early years, then emerged to become an advocate for women's rights. When I first read her story, I couldn't believe what I was reading: it felt so fresh, so subversive, so bold! In the story, she includes a conversation between two women:

'As a matter of fact, in your country… Men who do (or at least are capable of doing) no end of mischief, are let loose & the innocent women are shut up in the zenana! How can you trust those untrained men out of doors?'

'We have no hand or voice in the management of our social affairs. In India man is lord & master, he has taken to himself all powers & privileges & shut up the women in the zenana.'

'Why do you allow yourselves to be shut up?'

'Because it cannot be helped as they are stronger than women.'

'A lion is stronger than a man, but it does not enable him to dominate the human race. You have neglected the duty you owe to yourselves & you have lost your natural rights by shutting your eyes to your own interests.'

I've lost count of the number of times I've thought the same thing in Pakistan, over a hundred years after Rokeya wrote these words. Strange how the world works.”