Begum Rokeya, also known as Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, was born on December 9, 1880, in the village of Pairaband, located in the Rangpur District of present-day Bangladesh (then part of British India).  She was born into an aristocratic Muslim family, where women were traditionally kept in strict purdah (seclusion) and denied formal education. 

However, she secretly learned Bengali and English with the help of her elder brother, breaking societal norms to gain knowledge. Begum Rokeya was a pioneering Bengali writer, social reformer, educator, and women's rights activist from British India. She is best known for her relentless efforts in advocating for women's education and gender equality, particularly for Muslim women.  

Rokeya did not enjoy parental love or freedom in childhood, only because of her gender identity. In her dedicatory note to her novel Padmaraag, she admits, "I have never experienced the love of a father, mother…or a teacher" (All excerpts in the article are from my translation of Rokeya's work in The Essential Rokeya). Moreover, in  Aborodhbashini, she scornfully recounts how she had to live in an extreme purdah system from the age of five, which segregated her not only from men but also from women outside their family circle. Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was an autodidact who became a formidable champion of women’s rights and education when women in South Asia, especially Muslim women, were forced to live in subhuman conditions, almost like animals, or even worse than animals.  

She advocated for men and women to be treated equally as rational beings, noting that the lack of education for women was responsible for their inferior economic position. Her major works include Matichur (A String of Sweet Pearls, 1904 and 1922), a collection of essays in two volumes expressing her feminist thoughts; Sultana's Dream (1908), a feminist science fiction novella set in Ladyland ruled by women; Padmarag ("Essence of the Lotus", 1924) depicting the difficulties faced by Bengali wives; and Abarodhbasini (The Confined Women, 1931), a spirited attack on the extreme forms of purdah that endangered women's lives and self-image. Rokeya held education to be the central precondition of women's liberation, establishing the first school aimed primarily at Muslim girls in Kolkata. She is said to have gone from house to house persuading the parents to send their girls to her school in Nisha. Until her death, she ran the school despite facing hostile criticism and social obstacles.

Begum Rokeya married Khan Bahadur Sakhawat Hossain in 1896 when she was around 16 years old. Her husband was a deputy magistrate, supportive of her education and social activism. He encouraged her to write and continue her education, which was rare for Muslim women at the time. 

Unfortunately, Rokeya had a short conjugal life. Her husband died on 3rd May, 1909. She had two daughters, but they died in infancy. Despite her personal grief, Rokeya did not surrender to fate. Rokeya realized that women could be freed from their shackles only if they were educated and became independent economically. On 1st October, 1909, she started a school for Muslim girls at Bhagalpur with only five students, naming it after her husband, Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School. However, she could not continue at Bhagalpur for domestic reasons and decided to move to Calcutta. She faced challenges, including resistance from her in-laws. She moved from Bhagalpur (in present-day Bihar, India) to Kolkata, where she established the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in 1911. This school was dedicated to educating Muslim girls, a revolutionary step in an era when women's education was discouraged.  Throughout her later life, she continued advocating for women's empowerment, writing books like Sultana’s Dream (a feminist utopian story) and actively working with organizations like the Bengal Women's Education Conference and the Anjuman-e-Khawatin-e-Islam.  

Begum Rokeya did not attend any formal college or university due to the social restrictions on women's education in her time. However, she was largely self-taught with the support of her elder brother Ibrahim Saber and her husband Sakhawat Hossain, who encouraged her to read and write in Bengali and English.  Despite not having a formal higher education, she became a prolific writer, educator, and social reformer. Her efforts in establishing the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in Kolkata and promoting women's education were groundbreaking for Muslim women in South Asia. Today, institutions such as Begum Rokeya University (in Rangpur, Bangladesh) and Begum Rokeya College honor her legacy.

Rohiul Rokeya passed away on December 9, 1932, in Kolkata, British India (now India). She died at the age of 52, leaving behind a lasting legacy as a pioneer of women's rights and education in South Asia.