摘要
The whole world knows that England has her Mary Wollstonecraft and France has her Simone de Beauvoir as feminists, but the world knows a very little that Bengal also has her Rokeya Shakhawat Hossain, an intrepid feminist, who struggled till the last day of her life for the perfectly right assessment of the neglected Indian women, was born in 1880, in Pairaband, a small village in British India which now lies in the north-western part of present-day Bangladesh. She pioneered women＇s advancement and led the way to enlightening and empowering women breaking all the traditional social barriers. When the whole women folk were utterly distressed, deprived, and drowned under the dirt of illiteracy, fanaticism, superstitions, and prejudices and could not think of equal rights and freedom, she raised her voice through her writings and worked to uplift the fortune of women, instilled a sense of renaissance in them and led them to tasting the flavor of freedom opposed to the current of patriarchal social views. Based on this bold attitude toward female emancipation, Rokeya can easily be acclaimed as a feminist whereas some critics have viewed her as a Muslim or Islamic feminist which is nothing but an immature attempt to underestimate her genius. It was true that she was brought up in an Islamic cultural milieu and tried to educate the then lagged behind Muslim girls which, the critics probably cogitated as the main aim of her life overlooking the universality of women＇s problems she dealt with and her non-sectarian outlook of life. In fact, she sprang up beyond the limitations the society placed upon her and was boldly vocal about the freedom of women irrespective of their distinctive faiths and social customs. This paper, therefore, aims at exploring Rokeya＇s Istrijatir Abanati （Woman＇s Downfall） （1903） with a view to showing her firm determination, endeavors, and voice to emancipate women, and advocating her as a concerned feminist.
