Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain était une écrivaine bengalie, notamment connue pour son travail en faveur de l'égalité des sexes. Elle a fondé la première école élémentaire dédié aux filles et femmes musulmanes, qui existe toujours en 2009. Féministe musulmane reconnue, elle est citée comme influence par des écrivaines féministes contemporaines comme Taslima Nasrin et Sufia Kamal.
Née Roquia Khatun, elle fut plus tard Begum Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, Begum étant un terme honorifique donné à une femme en signe de respect. Dans ses textes en anglais, elle signait Rokeya.
Wikipedia
“Begum Rokeya had dreamt of a society where women would be magistrates, judges and barristers”
Contexte: Begum Rokeya had dreamt of a society where women would be magistrates, judges and barristers and that has come true as many women are already there in such posts.
When she was asked, in 1926, to chair the Bengal women's educational conference. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/28/rokeya-sakhawat-hossain-hero-tahmima-anam
Contexte: 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.
“Look, even a rebel like Jainab has also surrendered.”
Padmarag (1924) https://dev.thedailystar.net/news-detail-165630
Contexte: If today I get back with you, our conservative grandmothers will say to other women rebelling against gender injustices, Look, even a rebel like Jainab has also surrendered. I don't believe that only married life can be the ultimate success for women.
In 1926, when she addressed the bengal women's education conference http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/148459.Rokeya_Sakhawat_Hossain
Contexte: The opponents of the female education say that women will be unruly... fie! They call themselves muslims and yet go against the basic tenet of islam which gives equal right to education. If men are not led astray once educated, why should women?
On God Gives, Man Robs , 1927. http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2005/07/05/reflections.htm
MD. Mahmudul Hasan on an article of the - Rokeya's wake-up call to women http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/tribute/rokeyas-wake-call-women-1327171/
Contexte: She was much ahead of her time and society in understanding the causes of its degradation and in setting up a correct approach to address them. She rightly realised that without empowering women, a society can never flourish. Hence, the thematic thread that runs through all her intellectual efforts is a concern for equitable gender relations – feminism.