Gender, Betrayal, and Female Selfhood in Uma Parameswaran’s What was always Hers

Abstract

Uma Parameswaran’s What Was Always Hers presents the emotional, social, and moral struggles of an Indian immigrant woman whose married life in Canada becomes a site of betrayal, silence, and self-discovery. The novel places Veerbala, called Veeru, at the centre of a painful domestic world where marriage, motherhood, migration, and gendered expectation intersect. Her life with Niranjan begins with trust and admiration, yet it slowly reveals the unequal power given to men within family life. Niranjan’s decision to force Veeru toward abortion and his later demand for divorce expose the fragile position of women who are expected to obey, endure, and preserve family honour. Parameswaran studies gender equality through Veeru’s suffering, but the novel moves beyond victimhood. Veeru grows into a woman capable of moral clarity, emotional strength, and self-possession. Her response to Jitin and Nira also shows a wider feminist consciousness, for she refuses to turn one woman into the enemy of another. This paper examines how What Was Always Hers portrays gender inequality within marriage, migration, motherhood, and social respectability. It argues that Parameswaran’s fiction presents female strength as a gradual recovery of selfhood, dignity, and ethical maturity.