South Asian literature: ‘Voice of women consistently silenced’

Says social pressure forced women to write with male pseudonyms.

It is not the language that determines its strength or weakness, but it’s the group of speakers of a particular language that decides its strength. So said linguist Dr Shahid Siddiqui while delivering a lecture on “Women and Literature: Reclaiming the Silenced Voice” at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) on Thursday, according to a press release.

Siddiqui, the head of the Lahore School of Economics Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, said it was not because of the innate strength of the English language but because of the powerful group of speakers who owned it that English attained a prestigious status.

Dr Siddiqui spoke on the topic with reference to his latest book, “Languages, Gender and Power”, which he said presents an analysis of everyday life to show the interrelationship of language, gender and power and their impact on one another.

Dr Siddiqui said that in contemporary, technologically-advanced communication systems, the process of stereotyping has gained tremendous speed and impact. “The media is reinforcing stereotypes by legitimising them and amplifying their impact.”

Dr Siddiqui said that the process of stereotyping begins before birth and has economic, cultural and familial aspects. “In South Asian literature, the voice of women has consistently been silenced and pressure from mainstream society was such that women had to write with male pseudonyms.”

He said that gender biases, stereotypes and labels are clearly reflected in our daily language, proverbs, ads, dramas, plays, movies and literature and even gender stereotypes are engraved into children’s mind through nursery rhymes and fairy tales.

Dr Siddiqui also answered questions raised by the students and faculty members.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2013.