"Sultana's Dream" and its depiction of the fictional Ladyland play upon the practice of purdah, in which women are secluded in their homes and shielded from the public eye through the use of veils or clothing. The purdah system kept women rigidly confined to domestic spaces, where the only agency they possessed involved cooking, cleaning, or watching over children. During purdah, women stay within zenanas—the secluded rooms that Sultana and Sister Sara discuss when Sultana first expresses her discomfort at being outside. In "Sultana's Dream," the zenana becomes a mardana: a secluded space for men rather than women. Sultana, a woman who practices purdah, at first represents the ideology that governs the ritual. She is uncomfortable being exposed and fears that men will see her out in the open. She allows herself to go on a walk only because it is nighttime, when she presumes that there will be no men out.
However, upon finding herself in Ladyland, all of Sultana's expectations and fears are upended by the reversal of purdah. Men are imprisoned, and women roam free. Through this fictional inversion, Begum Rokeya is able to offer an alternative vision of what society could be without restrictive, gendered practices such as purdah. Without purdah, women are able to push society into unprecedented realms of progress. Natural disasters are eliminated by the women's ability to harness solar power and create water balloons that artificially dispense rain when necessary; automobile and public transportation accidents cease due to the use of flying cars; military expansion, warfare, and other colonial projects are discontinued; and women are able to work and accomplish a variety of other hobbies, none of which they were able to do when men were still present within society. Change occurs across all spheres: the personal, the domestic, the technological, and the political.
Ladyland, by inverting purdah, brings to light all of the ways in which women face oppression within a patriarchal society, as well as the flaws present within that social structure. Rokeya's portrayal of the additional free time that women gain when men begin to execute household chores—cooking and cleaning become male duties in Ladyland—highlights the burden of unpaid domestic labor that strips women of their ability to devote time to any activities outside of the domestic sphere. The absence of warfare once women take over the country is a criticism of male institutions that practice warfare and utilize violence as a means of political power. Industrialized machinery is replaced by highly advanced, "sci-fi" elements like flying cars and solar power, exemplifying science's benevolent potential under women's rule. Through female knowledge and agency, Ladyland emerges as a feminist utopia, eliminating societal ills and establishing peace, safety, and progress.
At the time of the story's composition (1908), Begum Rokeya's stance on female access to education and other rights was considered highly radical, especially in British India (a region now known as Bangladesh). Rokeya believed that women's lack of access to education led to disparities between men and women that needed to be resolved; through "Sultana's Dream," Rokeya is able to depict a world where these disparities are not only solved, but inverted in favor of female agency.
