Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8435 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.16, 2015 16 Female Oppression and Marginalization in Ice Candy Man by Sidhwa and the Holy Woman by Shahraz Almas Akhtar M.Phil Scholar, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan Shaista Andleeb Assistant Professor, Department of English, Institute of Southern Punjab Prof.Dr.Abdul Ghafoor Awan, Dean, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences Institute of Southern Punjab, Multan Abstract How women are marginalized during the partition and after the partition is the major theoretical concern of this research. The present research reveals how Sidhwa and Shahraz address the gender oppression in Ice Candy Man and The Holy Woman respectively. Different researchers also argues that both writers describe the subjection of women to rape, conversion, forced marriages and various sexual abuses during partition and in the days of peace. The social structure of our society regards women as the honor of family. In case of marginalization she suffers the sexual violence; she gets profaned, resulting in the honor killing of the family. Sidhwa and Shahraz represent this oppression, marginalization, and violence as the shameful event. Shahraz and Sidhwa’s writings shows how the gender oppression work through their bodies. The selected novels of both writers show how the women are oppressed, marginalized, controlled, and exploited by the men under the shade of cultural, social, and religious traditions. This research will expose both the violent and subtle ways in which patriarchy repress the female to control in Pakistani society. The main focus of this research is to show how the works of these two female writers are critically examined to understand their role in exploring the issues of women that they face in this patriarchal society through the literary medium. Keywords: women, oppression, marginalization, patriarchy, religious, social, traditions. 1. Introduction This research focuses on how the women in society are oppressed and marginalized by the men as it is viewed by Sidhwa and Shahraz in their novels. This research shall also focus on certain elements of patriarchy and gender bias which cause this marginalization. Simone De Beauvoir uses the term marginalization for women, because she believes that women are always oppressed and marginalized in the society: “woman has ovaries, a uterus: these peculiarities imprison her in her subjectivity circumscribe her within the limits of her own nature ….whereas he regards the body of woman as a hindrance, a prison, weighed down by everything peculiar to it.”[1]. However, marginalization means to put or keep someone in a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group. (Definition from free Merriam Webster…) Women are marginalized in almost all parts of the globe. However, in the independent Pakistan in spite of the constitutional guarantees of equality between sexes, the ground realities tell a different story. Though, education, industrialization, modernization, and globalization all have made certain impact on the situation and status of women, however the distribution of such change remains uneven resulting in widening inequalities between men and women. Therefore, while defining the ‘marginalized women’ various factors need to be considered including the opportunities, resources, finances, employment, and material status etc. Generally, the women need to find the space for contest and are forced to use the site of marginality to resist and create a new world. 2. Research Methodology The qualitative mode of research is used to analyze the selected novels, Ice Candy Man and The Holy Women. Feminism theory is used to challenge the male control over the women. The researcher has followed a descriptive approach and critical study of both novels has been written with a strong feminist perspective. 3. Significance of Research In this research, the researcher has tried to view how the woman is a signifier of society Honor and how their men folk oppressed and marginalized them for their personal benefits in the light of feminism. This research will explore the women’s complex roles in this uneven society, which are viewed in these particular novels. The main aim of this research is to highlight the gender position in a patriarchal society prior to takeover and take after of Pakistan. The critical study of both novels views how the female are oppressed and marginalized socially,