Patriarchal System and Women’s Condition
Bano to Quran. She wants to do something for her daughter’s happiness; however, society does not support her. There is no way to escape for her daughter. She
cannot make her daughter run away or marry her fiancée before the Holy Woman ceremony. Everything seems to give rise to a great scandal which will bring their
izzat rumbling down and the family will lose of face. “Zarri Bano had no chance, crushed against this wall of patriarchal
tyranny…like her mother; it had been drilled into father’s wishes and those of the male elders. To veto and a sign of moral and social
disorder….Qaisra: 48.”
Based on conflict experienced Shahzada, it can be said that Shahzada is the representation of women opression in Pakistan. They get discrimination from
society ruled by men. In addition, Shahzada and Zarri Bano are also representations of women from high class. High class does not guarantee that they
will get less oppression. They even get oppression more than any women from lower class because women from higher class should retain izzat as a rich and
high class. She was the chaudarani, the queen of this clan. Yet, in one single
stroke, her husband had reduced her to the status of the lowest of the low. Even the fishmonger’s wife had more autonomy and
would have been able to battle against her husband’s aggression for her children’s sake. She, on the contrary, was tied to a gilded cage.
Even if her husband has weakened under the plea, she couldn’t fight single…handedly against the pressure of his male elders,
especially his father… as a woman, she was no consequence- her opinion counted for nothing. A law unto themselves, men’s words
are commands, and they were born to be obeyed…. They were always step ahead of you and very adapt at that Qaisra: 47.
Getting oppression from men, Pakistani women in the 20
th
century endeavored to speak up their voices. They founded women’s associations to
defend women’s right. Some women activists or feminist appeared at that time PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
and intelligent women joined those women associations. One famous activist who later also became a prime minister was Benazir Bhutto. In this novel, this
condition also occurs. Some people in Pakistan in the 20
th
century identify that era as Benazir Bhutto’s.
“Where have your feminist beliefs and idealism disappeared to? How can’t a woman of your caliber, with a university degree, a
former editor of a magazine at the end of the twentieth century, be so blinded? I just cannot visualize it, Zarri Bano. This is the age of
woman prime minister, Benazir Bhuttos Qaisra: 84.”
Citation above depicts that women in Pakistan actually realised that they got oppression but they could not do anything. Zarri who also represents women
oppression shows that education, higher class and feminism cannot break patriarchal system in Pakistan off because a woman, a daughter was always
circumscribed to the law of obedient. Further, this condition is represented by Zarri Bano, a feminist who joins a woman association called APWA- All Pakistan
Woman Association, which was founded in Pakistan in 1949. This women association concerns on women’s education.
“Something has happened to one our APWA woman members- one of my old students, called Zarri Bano. She has written a number of
articles on our behalf in the magazines she founded…if this has happened to such a strong member, and then we are all lost. Our
cause, our aspirations, our wishes, everything Rucksana Qaisra: 114.”
Citation above confirms that Zarri, as a feminist and a high class woman, even cannot break the patriarchal system in Pakistan. It also indirectly represents
women associations in Pakistan and also feminism in Pakistan. Women in Pakistan still could not break the patriarchy off because they were circumscribed
to law of obedient. Zarri Bano, an educated girl from high class, and also a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
feminist cannot do anything when her father asks her to be a Holy Woman. She is fearful if she declines her father’s command, her father will get bad image and as
a daugter she knows that the only thing she should do as a daughter is to save her father’s izzat. The following citation supports this idea.
“I woke up to find that books, feminism, campaigns and education are all utterly useless against the patriarchal tyranny of our feudal
landlords. Stupidly I had convinced myself that as an educated, urban, upper class woman, I was different from those poor women,
lower down the strata of our society, who had to do as they were told…all I can say is that women in our society also become
prisoners of female modesty. If a father refuses to grant permission for his daughter to marry, how can she actively pursue marriage?
She’ll be labeled besharm, a wanton….but in the end, female modesty and my pride imprisoned me into a role of obedience
Qaisra: 115-117.”
Another women’s limitation was on the separation between men and women activities in Pakistan which was called as purdah. In this novel this
custom also occurs. Some public events are hindered for women. Readers can find that situation as cited below;
The woman made no move to put it back, ignoring the convention of covering her head in a public place amidst a group of men.
There were no other women present at the mela part from three elderly ladies, for it was not common or socially acceptable for
young women to join openly in all- male set of activities Qaisra: 3-4.
Not only on purdah did the discrimination occur. Women in Pakistan at that time were facing difficulties in getting education, contrasting to men who
could find special school for men. As a result women found difficulties in their job.
“I haven’t been through any school doors. I am just illiterate as you are. It is so unfortunate that there were no girls’ schools in the
village in our childhood days. It is so unfair. If I could read and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
write it would help me enourmously with names for my bussiness…Qaisra: 125.”
In addition, according to Robinson, women in Pakistan were not only subordinate to men in Pakistan but also to women in West. Women in West
admitted that chador Muslim women was symbol of unchallenged patriarchal system. This condition is also represented by Zarri Bano who tries to explain her
clothing style to her foreign friend. “The veil has always perplexed and tantalized the Western world,
both men and women alike. It is a disconcerting phenomenon for them as much now as it ever was. Westerners have always
misunderstood the reason why women wear it. To add insult to injury, they see it as a symbol of male oppression- a widely
acceptable stereotyped myth. They think that women are forced to wear it by their men folk…..we are not freaks; Zarri Bano could
not resist adding, just women who like to dress in a modest fashion and believe in covering ourselves well. All we ask is that people
respect us and our dress code Qaisra: 197.”
In this novel Qaisra does not only represent women from higher class in Pakistan but also women from lower class. Qaisra presents characters Fatima and
Firdaus. These mother and daughter represent the struggle of lower class women in Pakistan. They struggle to live under rigid tradition and society’s paradigm of
lower class. Fatima should keep silent whenever Kaniz insults her.