How were the women treated at that contemporary period where the novel was set?

The novel shows the various ways that patriarchy, the system by which men have power and authority over women, affects their lives. This is shown to be an older and more general form of violence than Partition, but it is also part of how the inter-communal tensions between religious groups get acted out. For example, Papoo is married off to a man much older than her. She gets no choice in the marriage and is drugged by her family so that she will not protest. Similarly, during Partition different religious groups seek to get revenge against each other by raping or kidnapping the women of the other group. Lenny learns that even after some of these women are recovered, their families do not want them back. Godmother tells her that this is because some men “can’t stand their women being touched by other men.” Lenny finds this unfair that women are seen as property. She is also faced with the reality of how society controls women when Ice-candy-man kidnaps Ayah. When the people around her describe this as “fate,” Lenny reflects “I’ve seen Ayah carried away—and it had less to do with fate than with the will of men.” In the end, Ayah refuses to see her as damaged. After she is freed, she decides to go across the border to her family in India—whether or not they accept her.