Google honours women’s rights advocate Begum Rokeya in Doodle

Google has commemorated Bangladeshi women’s rights pioneer Begum Rokeya’s 137th birthday with a Doodle on the Google Bangladesh page.

“Begum Royeka was a pioneer in Bengali feminist thinking and writing,” Google said in a statement.

“Born in 1880 in present-day Bangladesh, she became a persistent advocate for female education in her country, helping set a new precedent for the era.”

She was one of the first Muslim women to champion equality in the treatment of men and women, Google said.

The statement highlighted Begum Rokeya’s literary career, specifically citing ‘Sultana’s Dream’ – a short story about a feminist utopia run by women, and her role in establishing the first school for Bengali Muslim women in Kolkata and the formation of the Muslim Women’s Association.

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born on Dec 9, 1880 in Pairabondh village in Rangpur. She played a pivotal role in the women’s rights movement in South Asia and wrote novels, poems, short stories, science fiction, satire and essays.

She wrote that men and women should be treated equally as rational beings and that lack of education was the main obstacle to women’s achievements.

She died on her 52nd birthday on Dec 9, 1932. Bangladesh observes the date as Begum Rokeya Day.