Deconstructing Female Stereotypes Through Espionage Fiction :Depiction of Female Spy in Harinder Sikka's "Calling Sehma"t

Abstract

Society has assigned prescribed roles to men and women based on their assumed abilities and inabilities. Women are by such notions considered physically weak, dependent, emotional, passive, lacking in opinion etc. Even with improved status of women in the twenty first century, such stereotyping are preferred and propagated especially through literature, cinema etc. The United Nations considers certain stereotyping a violation of human rights if it prevents a person from personal growth and from enjoyment of fundamental freedom. Since its inception, espionage fiction has been male oriented and dominated, with females playing a minor supporting role. They were often portrayed as objects of sexual pleasure or damsels in distress completely dependent on the male. It was only towards the end of the twentieth century that female spies began to appear as central characters in espionage fiction. Such characters broke the hitherto accepted image of women in the genre by being bold, intelligent, ruthless, violent and active. Although less in number in comparison with their male counterparts, female spies in literature also attained wide acceptance. This paper attempts a study of the depiction of female spy in Harinder Sikka’s “Calling Sehmat”. As a work based on a real life spy, it is much closer to reality and hence makes an interesting study than a work based on pure imagination.