Women's position in society: Begum Rokeya's perception still equally relevant

A few days ago, a major earthquake occurred in Bangladesh. The entire Facebook was flooded with news of the earthquake. Just then, someone jokingly posted a status on Facebook, the statement of the status was something like this, even if there is an earthquake, the first thought that comes to women's minds is where is her veil! This status went viral and many people shared it on their Facebook walls jokingly. I then went into their comment box and my eyes welled up when I saw the comments!

One person wrote in a comment that these natural disasters are occurring because of women! Someone wrote, "Oh! Why don't women wear civilized just because they stay at home?" Another wrote, "These uncivilized women can only die!"

There were many worse comments that cannot be written here. Now many people may think that these are probably only written by men. But the interesting thing is that not only men but also women have made these comments in equal measure with them. This is the mentality of most Bengali Muslim women in the 21st century!

One noble woman long ago felt the urge to free the women of the country from this stigma. She realized that the only way to strike at the core of this negative perception of society towards women is through education. Until a woman can break free from the net of ignorance, she will not be free. Today is the birth and death anniversary of this noble woman.

Begum Rokeya is called the pioneer of Muslim women's awakening. Although Hindu women were saved by the kindness of Raja Rammohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Muslim women were the most backward. They were superstitious and imprisoned by religious scriptures created by men. It was then that Begum Rokeya emerged as the luminary of women's liberation. The main goal of her feminism was to establish women as human beings in society. Just before Begum Rokeya started working with women in the subcontinent (1848-1920), the first wave of feminism began in distant Europe and America with the help of Voltaire de Clare, Margaret Sanger, Lucy Stone, etc. However, I do not know how much this feminist wave influenced Begum Rokeya. However, as far as I understood from reading books, Begum Rokeya's feminism was different from Western feminist thought. And there was a huge difference between the Western women's society with which Begum Rokeya started working. Therefore, there was no opportunity to work by capitalizing on Western feminist philosophy.

From the beginning, Begum Rokeya struck at the bases of inequality between men and women. And the first blow was to the fortress of education. She saw inequality in the field of education in her own personal life. At that time, men had sole authority in education. Men's idea about women's education was that they would do housework, i.e. cooking, serving their husbands. Women were backward in this way. Again, there was a strict policy of veiling in the name of religion. That is why Rokeya wrote,

'To keep us in the dark, men publish religious scriptures as God's commandments. And in the name of those books, they keep women confined to their homes.'

And with these commandments, men still want to control women. In this era, some women themselves are also trying to establish these commandments in society.
How to pull women down when they do something outside the existing norms in society has become the main task of today's society. And Begum Rokeya, who worked for women's education and women's freedom, has also become the object of attacks from some men and women from time to time.

Just a year ago, a student of Shamsun Nahar Hall covered the eyes and face of a graffiti of Begum Rokeya with black spray paint. There was a widespread uproar about this incident. The person who fought for women's education and women's liberation, for which today's women are able to move around freely, working in the fields of economy, business, and education, had his face covered in black by another woman! Such an incident is perhaps only possible in Bangladesh.

Fortunately, Begum Rokeya has left this world. Otherwise, she would have died in shame after seeing such hatred of women towards women!

Begum Rokeya wrote five books during her lifetime. In all of which women were the main topic. Even on the night before her death, she wrote an article titled 'Narir Odhikar (Women's Rights)'. She did so much for women's progress, liberation, and education, but women have actually been liberated? Has Rokeya's feminism really been established in society? Aren't women still trapped in the shackles of patriarchy? An even bigger question now is, aren't women themselves becoming the biggest enemies of women? Everyone knows the answers to these questions. Even if they know the answers, there is no solution. Even as society, the state, and the world reach the pinnacle of progress, these questions seem to remain. As a result, Begum Rokeya's understanding of the position of women in society is still equally relevant after all these years.