Pakistani Women Struggle to Find Their Individualities

Irene Watson, is pleased to have as our guest, Shaila Abdullah, author of Beyond the Cayenne Wall.

Hi Shaila, thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview.

Irene: Shaila, why do you feel that Beyond the Cayenne Wall was in important book for you to write? What objectives do you have for the book?

Shaila: There is a great dearth of writers who have managed to lift the veil to reveal the richness or even the oppression within Pakistan. There are issues that to this day are not talked about openly, such as rape, abuse, violence at home, incest, etc. And to this day it's considered a stigma in that culture to be in a situation like miscarriage, infertility, divorce, and separation. For most of the women, life does not exist outside the four walls of their home and I feel that it is important to tell the stories of women who venture beyond those walls and find themselves. The book is a message for women of that land to rise and discover their true selves, the unique person that's them.

Pakistani women face a rough battle. On one hand where society provides them the richness of tradition and family values, there is little or no freedom for them. The unjust Hudood Ordinance has subjected women who report a rape to be jailed for lack of evidence. 60% of women in Pakistani jails are today are in there because of this law. According to the Independent Rights Commission, over 600 women were killed in the early part of 2003 in Pakistan. It's a country where historically women have little rights and I do believe that global awareness of the violations of women's rights can bring about changes for future generations there.

Irene: What challenges did you have while writing this book and how did you overcome them?

Shaila: Beyond the Cayenne Wall started as a healing through writing process after a life altering event. In the beginning, I never thought that these stories that I was writing would one day take the shape of a book. I am essentially an introvert and get easily caught up in my characters. For a long time I struggled with the first story about Tannu, the woman who is forced to give up her firstborn to the caretakers of a shrine as the tradition dictated. It was a price she was expected to pay because she was forced by her mother-in-law to go to the shrine of fertility and pray for a child. I was haunted by the character that I had created and to this day I wonder if I should write an entire book on the rest of her life. She is an epitome of strength, a rare combination of resilience and rebellion in one who in the final act of defiance, tears herself away from the ties that bound her to the choices she did not want to make in her life.

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