Bacha Posh: A Cultural Practice in Afghanistan as Seen in Nadia Hashimi's The Pearl That Broke Its Shell: Resilience against Patriarchy (original) (raw)
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Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), 2024
Since the dawn of civilization, a perpetual struggle for equality and freedom has raged on among societies worldwide. One noteworthy aspect of this enduring battle is the commendable efforts made by numerous countries across Europe and Asia to enshrine principles of liberty and equality within their constitutions, particularly in regard to the rights of women. Over time, these nations have adapted and refined their laws and societal norms to better reflect the evolving needs and aspirations of their female citizens. However, amidst the progress and evolution seen in various parts of the world, Afghanistan stands as a poignant reminder of a nation where the journey towards gender equality and empowerment is still fraught with challenges. Attaining equal rights between the sexes-man and woman, has become a global phenomenon. Women across the world are chained under the patriarchal society and are still treated as the "weaker sex". They struggle to accomplish their target of achieving women's rights, respect, and proper recognition. This is because women's identity has been exploited and abused, which made them initiate and involved in a movement calling for women's liberation. The lives of women around the world are incredibly diverse, with significant variations in right and opportunities from one country to another. While all women inhabit the same planet, they face vastly different challenges and experiences. The concern of the study is to compare the lives of Afghan women to those in other Muslim majority countries and highlights their dire circumstances in the era of globalization, where there is no hope for betterment. The life of women in Afghanistan is filled with
THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN -AN ANALYSIS OF NADIA HASHIMI'S THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL
Emerald Publishers, 2022
Feminism is a liberation ideology for women since it is premised on the idea that women are treated unfairly because of their sexual identity. Feminism examines the factors that contribute to female oppression. The depiction of women in Afghanistan is described in this report. Through this study, we can sense the struggle of women in facing the society and to live the day today life.
The Struggle Of Women Against Oppression -A Study Of Nadia Hashimi's The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
Feminism is a liberation ideology for women since it is premised on the idea that women are treated unfairly because of their sexual identity. Feminism examines the factors that contribute to female oppression. Women's oppression in Afghanistan is described in this report. The system of masculine oppression of women is termed as patriarchy. Patriarchy is the oppressive structure, according to this understanding. Patriarchy is a phrase that refers to a societal structure and practises in which men dominate, oppress, and exploit women. As a political framework, patriarchy tries to dominate and oppress women, limiting their ability to make decisions about their sexuality, childrearing, mothering, loving, and labouring. This research examines the subjugation of women in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. Through this study, we can sense the struggle of women in facing the society and to live the day today life.
Nation State: Journal of International Studies, 2018
Abstrak Konsepsi biologis/esensialis mengenai gender menyatakan bahwa jenis kelamin biologis manusia menentukan pola perilaku manusia, dan peran laki-laki yang dikaitkan dengan maskulinitas dan perempuan dengan femininitas. Akan tetapi, terdapat perdebatan mengenai apakah gender adalah sesuatu yang berkaitan dengan aspek biologis manusia atau merupakan hasil dari konstruksi sosial budaya. Kritik dari kaum feminis mengenai hubungan kekuasaan antara maskulinitas dan femininitas adalah dominasi hak khusus bagi kaum laki-laki dan sifat maskulin, dan pengakuan atas posisi perempuan dan sifat feminin yang lebih rendah dari laki-laki. Perempuan dengan sifat maskulin atau female masculinity dilihat sebagai bentuk perlawanan terhadap norma gender yang ada di masyarakat dimana perempuan harus mengadopsi dan bersikap berdasarkan sifat-sifat feminin sebagai jalan hidu Tulisan ini bermaksud menganalisis posisi perempuan yang bersifat maskulin atau yang biasa disebut female masculinity yang dibedakan dari bentuk maskulinitas lainnya dalam sistem patriarki. Tulisan ini juga menganalisis tahap awal dari female masculinity yakni tomboyisme yang dialami oleh anak-anak perempuan di Afghanistan yang disebut Bacha Posh. Fenomena ini mengindikasikan kekuasaan yang dimiliki sifat maskulin dalam membentuk identitas gender di masyarakat, dimana female masculinity diposisikan di luar dari sistem maskulinitas dalam hal kekuasaan, legitimasi dan peran dalam masyarakat. Abstract The biological/essentialist theory of gender assumes that biological sexes determine the behavior patterns and roles of males and associates them with masculinity and females and associates them with femininity. However, there is debate to determine whether genders are biological or socially and culturally constructed. Feminist critique of the power relation between masculinity and femininity defined as the power to give privilege to the position of masculinity and men, and acknowledge the subordination of femininity and women. People also guided to conform to gender norms in society as identity. Female masculinity emerged as part of a resistance to the gender norms where females should adopt and perform feminine values and ways of life. This paper analyze the position of female masculinity, which is distinct from masculinity in patriarchic systems. This paper also analyze the early stage of female masculinity, tomboyism called Bacha Posh as experienced by many girls in Afghanistan. This paper showed to us that the phenomena of Bacha Posh reflect the gender trait was not flexible. It was decided by the need to fulfill patriarchy system in Afghan society.
IJELS, 2023
Afghanistan, an Islamic country, has always been counted as the most barbaric abode for women. As per the news that has been taking round, the life of these women is filled with battles, restrictions and social discriminations. They are compelled to accept everything in the name of religion and are even denied from receiving the fundamental rights. The Afghan society is overpowered by men who call themselves religious and yet refuse to follow the guidelines mentioned in the holy text. Religion is a way of life which chalks down certain norms and demarcations for men as well as women, to abide by those, in order to have a tangle free peaceful society for every individual to thrive in. The holy Quran clearly mentions equality for women. The Lord says: "I never fail to reward any worker among you for any work you do, be you male or female-you are equal to one another." (Qur'an, 3: 195). The Government of the state has imposed certain laws which brutally restrict its women from enjoying certain liberties. Demolition of their fundamental rights has not only made them weak, marginalized and subjugated but also left them bereft of their basic right to live like a human being. Under decades of war, the Taliban regime has been yielding the most oppressive lives for Afghan women. The very common Purdah custom, escorting of men, forced polygamy and gender segregation has become the staunch and hardcore rules for these women. The present study brings to the fore the many times pictured tumultuous predicament of women in Afghan society and puts it to examine how despite the age old ragged customs and rigid norms that has wreaked havoc on their status; these iron willed women have put up a brave face to fight against the injustices and restrictions piled on them by the radicalized men and striven to rise out of the debris. Nadiya Hashimi's 'The Pearl That Broke Its Shell' not only defines a woman's place in the face of violence but also highlights the resolution of this subjugated sect to liberate them from the tightened fist.
Women as a Victim of Patriarchal Construct in the Pakistani Bride and Water
2020
Bapsi Sidwa an ambassador of Pakistan Literature is not only a story teller but an artist who has very enigmatically related the plight and exploitation of women in the patriarchal society. When we talk of 'Feminism' we refer to the movement which has played an important role in projecting the suppressed status of women in the patriarchal society. The term also signifies the emergence of the power of the women over the constructs of male dominance and a movement to acquire the equal rights of the women with men in all walks of life, social, moral, economic legal and so on. Men establish their masculinity and feel elated and victorious as aggressors whereas women endure the pain and barbarity with humiliation and subjugation. But Sidwa talks about the emancipation of women just as she has done in her real life so the women in her fictional world. Her characters are intelligent, beautiful, strong willed, courageous and modest and not rebellious. The parental, societal and psyc...
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Theory and Practice in Language Studies
This study aims to show how patriarchal civilizations physically, emotionally, and socially oppress and enslave women. Sidhwa has shown Pakistani gender-based class system quite effectively in her work. She discusses marginalized and double-colonized Pakistani women as victims of patriarchal culture who confront a variety of national and household challenges, and overcomes patriarchal and cultural constructs in order to be in peace with society and culture. This paper ‘Transcending Patriarchal and Cultural Construct in Bapsi Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride’, attempts to show how women in patriarchal cultures and societies suffer many issues in their lives and how they repress their needs, longings, and emotions in order to find a comfortable position in their households as well as in society at large.
Deplorable Condition of Women and Patriarchal Domination in Bapsi Sidhwa's The Pakistani Bride
SMART MOVES JOURNALS IJELLH, 2020
Abstract Parsi writers have contributed a lot to Indian English Literature. The Indian Parsi novelists express their feelings in the form of art. The novelists reflect the psychological dilemma of the minority community and its identity crisis through their works. Being a Parsi writer, Bapsi Sidhwa sees a kind of mental migration when she hybrids from her native land, and pours her feelings and thoughts in to her novels. She is known for her exploration of women’s inner psyche who aspire to live in modernity, inept to break traditional quality intrinsic in them. Most of her writings contain a pinch of migration and male dominance taste when one chews them. The expatriate writers face multi- cultural situation which merges with their personal anguish due to prejudice. They project the cultural confusion and confrontation of a multi racial society. The quest for identity, aspiration for belongingness and love for native land is found as a part of non-erasable conscious in all expatriate writers. This paper reveals the socio-cultural background and the authoritative patriarchal Pakistani society in the novel The Pakistani Bride The novel portrays how the institution of marriage and patriarchy deplores and represses an orphaned girl’s self-identity. It also pinpoints the problems of a little girl Zaitoon as an alien in an alien land or culture. It enforces deportation as a pathway to sculpt for belongingness of her ‘self’. At the end, Zaitoon succeeds by rejecting the alien culture and tradition. Key words: Culture, Patriarchy, Quest for Identity, Inner Psyche, Self
Gender Intervention Through Toxic Masculinity in Hashimi's The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
Anaphora: Journal of Language, Literary, and Cultural Studies
This article is about the idea of gender intervention through toxic masculinity reflected in Nadia Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell based on the theory of toxic masculinity by Terry A. Kupers. Beginning from a position that sees masculinity as a socially constructed idea in a patriarchal culture, this article works through the concept that hegemonic masculinity under patriarchy can turn toxic. There is a connection between toxic masculinity and hegemonic masculinity because toxic masculinity deviates from hegemonic masculinity aspects that are destructive. Many toxic masculinity traits can be found in society. This research uses a descriptive qualitative research design since this study will be limited to explain on two traits that are found in the novel. The most prominent traits that can be found in the novel are the subordination of women and violence. The idea of subordination of women can harm women because it puts them in an inferior position. This idea is also harmful...
Women's Submissiveness in Bapsi Sidhwa's The Pakistani Brid
International Journal of Modern Agriculture, 2021
Postcolonial literature approaches to expose the colonial philosophy by feminine gender, social exclusion and degraded punishments as the 'other'. The author of the novel emphasis on the difficulties of deformed identities of fictitious characters, dislocation, gender biasness, subjugation and the predicaments of the citizens existing in colonized societies. This research paper concentrates on the predicaments of the colonized women, their dislocation, and isolation due to acts of cultural conflict and dominance of politics. The novel The Pakistani Bride is drawn upon the basis of an original event which displays story of a girl named Zaitoon and to emphasis on Bapsi Sidhwa where she initiates a harsh attack of patriarchal society on Women. In the colonial times, women were treated as a subject of lust and with no social status. To begin with, it is a story of Zaitoon's life struggle for survival and also men live under a burden of honour protection to dismay women. Bapsi Sidhwa gives a picture of gut wrenching incidents of inhuman barbarity, unclothed women howling for relief, and endorses the unfair treatment within the house against women. This gut wrenching incidents does represent the most barbaric action in the theological and cultural aftermath in the novel The Pakistani Bride. Keywords:Cultural conflict, Disfranchise, Inhuman, Gender bias, Subjugation, Social identity crisis.