IndiStories Episode 27: 'The Woman and the Leopard' by Fahmida Riaz

This is a short story by Fahmida Riaz, a poet, distinguished author, and tireless fighter for women’s rights. She was born in Meerut in 1946, and after the partition, her family settled in Hyderabad, Sindh. During the dictatorial regime of Zia Ul Haq, she was charged with several crimes, and she sought refuge in India and spent seven years in exile. On Women’s Rights, she once said, and I quote, “Feminism has so many interpretations. What it means for me is simply that women, like men, are complete human beings with limitless possibilities. They must achieve social equality, like the Dalits or the Black Americans. In the case of women, it is so much more complex. I mean, there is the right to walk on the road without being harassed. Or to be able to swim or write a love poem, like a man, without being considered immoral. The discrimination is obvious, subtle, cruel, and always inhuman.” Unquote The story Aurat aur Cheetah, meaning The Woman and the Leopard is about a woman’s primordial fears of subjugation. Fahmida uses Leopard as a metaphor for the power of the patriarchy to oppress women. This repression is the cause of endless suffering and psychological complications for women.