Department of English, Govt College Women University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

The present research brings to light women’s subjugation and marginalization that has also been discussed and portrayed by fictional writers around the world. Their subjugation is not the product of individuals’ intended actions rather it is the result of cultural, social, economic and political structures within which human beings live. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini also portrays the plight of women under the oppressive patriarchal system. Women are shown as doubly marginalized due to patriarchy as well as social, cultural, economic and political conflicts in Afghanistan. The Marxist-feminist views of Rowbotham from Women’s Consciousness, Men’s World and Gilman’s Women and Economics are applied to A Thousand Splendid Suns to highlight the double marginalization of women in a society, who bear the tortures of patriarchy, economic inferiority and socio-political extremism. If they have to live in such patriarchal societies, they are destined to bear the violence in form of physical and psychological exploitations by the power structure of patriarchal system. This study also critically investigates the socio-political extremism, economic subjugation and patriarchy as an obstacle in the development of women in Afghanistan. Women’s socio-economic liberation can put an end to male hegemony and supremacy, patriarchy and gender discrimination. Keywords: Patriarchy, Women Oppression, Marginalization, Political system, Social injustice, Economic subjection