Enslaving Domestic Space: A Reading of Rashid Jahan’s “Behind the Veil”

Abstract

The paper attempts to read Rashid Jahan‟s “Behind the Veil” (1932) as a pioneer feminist text that sought to expose the pitfalls of patriarchal world view that enslaves women domestically. Rashid Jahan (1905 – 1952) was an early Urdu writer who was inspired by feminism and Marxism. An active member of the Progressive Writers‟ Movement and the Indian People‟s Theatre Association, she wrote several short stories and radio plays which were experimental in form and radical in theme for their time. They deal with the circumscribed status of women in Muslim households. “Behind the Veil” (Parde ke Peeche) is one such play.