[The following are a series of excerpts from the biography of Ayesha Rauf (Ayesha Mayin) (1917-1992) by Farzana Haniffa (Ayesha Rauf: A Pioneer of Muslim Women’s Emancipation in Sri Lanka, Social Scientists’ Association, Colombo, 2014) who migrated to Ceylon from Malabar through marriage in 1944. Her work in Muslim women’s education and her public life spans across Malabar and Ceylon. Haniffa remarks that despite her pioneering role, “Rauf is a personality who has been “hidden from history.” Fallen through the cracks even of Sri Lankan feminist historiography, Rauf hitherto merited a short footnote in the narratives on education, politics or the status of Sri Lankan Muslim women.” (2014: 1-2). If this is the case in SL, it is doubly true for Kerala. Ayisha Rauf’s life as narrated by Haniffa is such a marvellous illustration of what educated Malayali women were, and are, capable of, once freed from the shackles of narrow family and regional identification. It is worth noting that the same trajectory seemed completely unavailable to her peers in Kerala who had attained the same levels of education and work experience — neither her Muslim nor non-Muslim peers…
Continue reading “Excerpts from Ayesha Rauf: A Pioneer of Muslim Women’s Emancipation in Sri Lanka by Farzana Haniffa”
Swatantryavaadini 