52 pages • 1 hour read
The Widows of Malabar Hill
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Themes
The Struggle for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
Content Warning: This section includes discussions of racism, addiction, abuse, and violence.
A major theme of the novel is The Struggle for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights. The Widows of Malabar Hill takes place in the 1920s, an era where women’s rights (especially the right to vote) became a global issue. For Perveen, the struggle to be taken seriously as a professional woman is a major part of her character arc. She is aware of how unusual her education and profession are: “The idea of a woman solicitor was a shock to many” (3). Though her family has supported her fiercely, encouraging her from a young age to value education over housework and to defy some of India’s traditional gender roles, she still feels the burden of pleasing them through her actions. For example, her father will not allow her to display an article written about her career, saying that it was “too much to throw in the faces of clients who needed a gentle introduction to the prospect of female representation” (6). Additionally, though her parents support her profession, they still expect her to abide by many gendered cultural norms, including not speaking to men without a chaperone and asking permission to be out late—something she rebels against when speaking to Cyrus alone, kissing him and sneaking out without permission to meet him. Though Perveen works hard to prove herself in her profession, she also feels “a heavy responsibility” and thinks that she “couldn’t bring shame on Jamshedji Mistry” (10). Despite these tensions, Perveen experiences privilege as a wealthy and educated woman with a supportive family, which makes her gendered struggle easier in some ways.
Other women throughout the novel do not have as many privileges as Perveen. For example, when visiting the Farid widows, Perveen is saddened to learn that they employ child-servants, including the young Fatima, who will not have the opportunity to go to school. Even the wealthy Farid wives are not all well-educated. When Sakina speaks of funding a school for Muslim boys, Perveen reminds her that “Literacy is valuable for both boys and girls. Did you know the literacy rate for Muslim girls in India is less than two percent?” (93). This response angers Sakina, who tells her that her girls will “learn the important prayers and to converse politely in Hindustani and Urdu. They also learn stitching and fine needlepoint from me” (93). Though Sakina’s daughters are wealthier than Fatima, the expectation is still that they are of lesser value than boys and do not need to have an extensive education, limiting the opportunities that are available to them.
The Intersection of Law and Social Justice
Throughout the novel, Perveen sees the law as a force that social justice can shape, though she acknowledges that change is often slow and painful. Her own painful experience with the law in her marriage separation case motivate her immensely. When her father represented her, she was horrified to find that Parsi marital law treats women as property of their families, rather than people with their own feelings and agency. She angrily tells her father, “I hate the law. It’s unfair, and lawyers should advocate to have it changed” (234). He retorts that she should have stayed in law school, since “Only a Parsi lawyer who really cares about women’s rights will push to change it” (234). After returning to law school, this time at Oxford, Perveen is one step closer to becoming that lawyer and championing women’s rights through legal advocacy.
Her work on the Farid case also emphasizes the importance of women being treated as full people rather than simply accepting whatever their male guardians might wish for them. She realizes that she is in a unique position to represent them since she can speak to them and a male lawyer cannot: “Secluded, wealthy Muslim women could become a subspecialty for her practice” (14). However, by the end of the case, she has realized the limits of the law. Though she can make sure that Razia and Mumtaz receive what they should have, Sakina’s infant son still gets the bulk of the estate because of unequal inheritance laws. Additionally, though Sakina receives a sentence for her crimes, Perveen recognizes that the desperation and forced marriage that drove her to those crimes is an injustice that the law will not consider when determining her punishment.
In addition to representing women, Mistry Law also tackles other cases of injustice. They take on these cases for free to follow their Zoroastrian credo of “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” (131). One of the early cases she and her father take on in the novel is on behalf of a young dockworker, Jayanth, who was penalized for organizing the other workers. They win the case, and the workers are entitled to a daily break. Sir David acknowledges that the Parsi community has “stabilized Bombay as well—building hospitals and schools, projects that my people overlooked” (364). The cases Mistry Law takes on are another kind of stabilization, slowly bending the law toward social justice to make the world fairer for all in India.
The Impact of Cultural and Religious Traditions on Individual Lives
Though most of the novel’s main characters are Indian, they come from diverse cultures and religions. Massey explores different cultural and religious traditions throughout the novel, highlighting the impact these norms have on individual lives. For example, the Farid family is Muslim and chooses to follow the rules of purdah, though not all Muslims in the novel do so. This radically shapes their lives and experiences of the world. Initially, Perveen fears that the women are trapped and helpless, and is “concerned about how little contact they had with others—and not even a telephone for emergencies” (89). However, Sakina argues in favor of their life, insisting “This is a special, peaceful life” and envisioning her “daughters are growing like roses in a walled garden” (89). Mumtaz and Razia eventually choose to leave seclusion by the novel’s end. Mumtaz was not raised that way and wants her daughter to have a less secluded life. Razia leaves because she has fallen in love and overcome her fears of the outside world. She hopes for Amina to be well-educated and attend school.
Cultural and religious traditions also shape Perveen’s life. She adheres to the principles of Zoroastrianism, finding her moral compass in its credo of “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” (131). She is proud of her culture and her heritage and believes that the Parsis have done much good for Bombay and India. At the same time, her in-laws adhere to strict and archaic interpretations of religious purity and force her to sleep in a hot, dirty cell when she is menstruating. She is frustrated by their lack of scientific understanding and even more angry when she reads Parsi marital law and sees the way it treats women as chattel rather than human beings. She must navigate around some of these outdated norms while still espousing the parts of her culture and faith of which she is proud.
Traditions also shape Alice’s life. Though she was raised in India, she is a daughter of the British Empire, and her father is a powerful man in the British colonial government. She is keenly aware of the way that native Indians might resent her presence. However, she is not a strong follower of her family’s religion or their politics. Instead, she associates with suffragettes, communists, and fellow lesbians. Like Perveen, she must navigate between the ideas and values with which she was raised and the ones she wants to choose to follow on her own accord.
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