Are women writers any different?

Are women writers any different?
by Hafizur Rahman

The other day someone gave me a book of Urdu short stories by a personable young woman to read. Since three or four very famous names in Urdu literature had spoken highly of her talent on the flap of the book, I went through one story and found it passably readable. Then I read two more but the comment forced itself out of me, "Nothing to write home about." So why did those big names have to make a fool of themselves by praising the lady to the skies?

The only conclusion I could draw was that in the culture of Urdu criticism it matters a lot whether the writer is a man or a woman. This made me ruminate on the subject. Suppose (I conjectured) a woman were to write under a man's name, will she be recognized by her style, by what she makes her characters say and do, or by some other aspects of her work? Without reading the name of the author can we really tell the gender?

I don't think you can if the novel or short story, or even the rare play, is of real literary merit. Then why are women writers treated as a breed apart? This is not so in the West where writers are judged solely by the quality of their literary output and not by their sex. Maybe in Pakistan a woman fiction writer is still a novelty, although some of them, like the late Hijab Imtiaz Ali, were writing long before this country was born and made a memorable contribution to modern Urdu literature.

There is also the other possibility. Suppose a new writer, who thinks he has something in him, poses as a woman, and in collusion with the publisher, makes his novels known as the works of a newly arrived woman writer in order to cash in on the popularity of woman novelists among common readers, what would be the reaction? If he has the talent I'm sure he will earn plaudits and there will be exclamations of "breath of fresh air" and "certainly a new discovery; where was she all this while?" It will be cheating, but he will have created a sensation for some time, because in this age writers cannot hide their sex for long.

There is another question. Do women writers of fiction deal mostly with problems - cultural, social, domestic, sexuality - of women or do they cover general fields of behavior of their characters just as men writers do? While I would not give a verdict on this, or make a generalized observation, I have noticed that their protagonist is usually a woman or a young girl. But you can't say that about the really famous women novelists. They don't restrict themselves to their sex.

On the other hand, before Partition the general portrayal of the heroine by popular women writers was of a romantic nature, and even when social issues were dealt with they concentrated on the female characters and, through them, commented on the inequalities of society and the disastrous results of discrimination against women. Female writers of fiction truly flowered into serious literary personalities when they began to see the injustice and misery faced by the common people in Pakistan about which everyone had such high hopes.

Urdu women writers from India did not suffer from any inhibition and were on the forefront of the progressive literary movement. Ismat Chughtai, Rasheed Jehan, Quratulain Haider, Jilani Bano and Wajida Tabassum, to name a few, were as good, as effective and as realistic as any male writer and became vastly successful. Maybe one reason for their fame was that the bitter truth coming from the pen of a woman caused surprise and created a deeper impact, apart from the curiosity involved.

A contemporary of the above-named was Mumtaz Shireen who came over to Karachi after independence. Her creative work of fiction was of a high order, but she also made a name for herself in the field of literary criticism. She was a rarity because the field has never attracted women. In fact if you look back at the last 57 years you may perhaps not be able to name even one-woman literary critic except Mumtaz Shireen who remains outstanding because of this distinction.

A new avenue for women writers was opened when Pakistan Television invited prospective dramatists to write plays for it, both full length and serials. Then names like Hasina Moin, Nurul Huda Shah and Fatima Surayya Bajia became household words because TV, by reaching nearly every home in the country, became the surest means for acquiring fame and acceptability. It is another matter that literary critics did not regard their dramatic output as literature, except when an acknowledged woman writer like Bano Qudsia also wrote for that medium.

The TV playwrights among women devoted their talents mostly to either making romantic ideals of their heroines or to draw public attention to women suffering from discrimination imposed by society or tradition or sheer backwardness. I must say, however, that women writers of fiction have done a lot by highlighting the condition of women, not only those from the poorer classes but also the rich and the privileged who were victims of the Pakistani male's chauvinism and when they were economically dependent upon him. We join the rest of the world in condemning slavery of all kinds but we have in our midst the worst form of serfdom that comes through women's inability to strike out on their own and to combat mental and physical torment because of helplessness.

You must have read newspaper stories, usually emanating from Punjab and Sindh, but also occurring wherever the feudal system is in vogue, of women being abused sexually by zamindars and waderas while their men are unable to do anything against these monsters. It is heartening to see these shameful acts, and the inhuman custom of karo-kari and so-called honor killing finding a prominent place in the literature produced by women writers.

One must agree that women writers of Pakistan have made a significant contribution to underlining the social evils of all kinds particularly when they adversely affect the lives of the female population, although the modern fashion in Europe and America is not to assess the literary value of women writers separately. Our female authors certainly deserve praise for their work, which has achieved the added objective of enriching the country's literature.