models of free femininity

It's interesting that in Sunlight, Laila's deepest rebellion is her convictions about what love is and is not. Because it upsets the social order so much and bears on issues of sexuality, perhaps its inevitable that love is the central question to a female protagonists identity in this context. Laila educates herself but this never seems to be enough. In Thanawi's ideal, Laila would educate herself thoroughly (and no one would interfere or mock her for learning), but as a trade-off, she would submit to whatever marriage choice was deemed acceptable by her elders. Could she be happy that way? There are no models presented in the book for this sort of fulfilled yet submissive female, perhaps because that is counter to Hosain's arguments. I guess the question I'm asking is if the freedom of women is by definition irreconcialable with Thanawi's ideal social order. Probably so. I don't know.