A never ending list of accomplished Muslim women of Pakistan

These are a few of the many world recognized accomplished Muslim women of Pakistan. I know, being a medical doctor that 70% of medical school population of Pakistan is female. Because, female students attain better scores than their male colleagues in colleges to qualify for medical school candidancy on merit. Engineering schools have less female students as the profession is not preferred by women due to involvement of field work but business and administration is seeing a rise in number of female professionals.

This is an incomplete list of well-known female figures of Pakistan….


Journalists and Literataries:
I know i am missing many reknown journalists and book authors...but this is just an example list for our ignorant neighbours who make up stories about oppression of women in Islam.

Razia Bhatti: Editor of the Herald for 12 years and then of Newsline for another eight. Recipient of the “Courage in Journalism” award from the New York based International Women's Media Foundation

Ismat Chughtai: one of the four pillars of modern Urdu fiction along with Saadat Hassan Manto, Krishen Chander, and Rajinder Singh Bedi.”

Bapsi Sidhwa: Bapsi Sidhwa is the author of four novels and one of Pakistan's most prominent English fiction writers. In 1991, Bapsi Sidhwa was the recipient of Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest honor in arts bestowed upon a citizen. In 1998, her novel Cracking India was adopted into the movie, Earth, by renowned filmmaker, Deepa Mehta.

Bano Qudsia: is a writer, intellectual, playwright and spiritualist from Pakistan who is regarded among the best Urdu novelists and short story writers of modern times.

Fatima Surayya Bajia,:Pride of Performance, is a renowned Urdu novelist, playwright and drama writer of Pakistan. She has been awarded various awards at home and abroad including Japan's highest civil award in recognition of her works. She also remained Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh province of Pakistan


Sharmeen Obaid is a journalist and a documentary filmmaker. Her documentary films have been aired on Discovery Times channel and PBS/Frontline World. She won the American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award and the Overseas Press Club Award and Banff Rockie Special Jury Award.

Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah: She was Pakistan's first female columnist (in English), editor, publisher and political commentator. Founder and editor-publisher of the “Mirror”, the first social glossy magazine in South Asia.

Shireen Mazari: Pakistani academic, defence analyst, journalist and politician. She is currently working as the editor of the conservative daily The Nation newspaper and as the Information Secretary of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party. She has also served as the Director General of The Institute of Strategic Studies, a think-tank based in Islamabad and was until recently a regular columnist at the daily The News International.

Shyema Sajjad Khan: Desk Editor, DAWN Media Group Online

Quratulain Siddiqui: Desk Editor, DAWN Media Group Online

Ms. Huma Yusuf: Features Editor, DAWN Media Group Online

Afshan Subohi: Editor, DAWN, Economic and Business Review (EBR)

Saima Shakil Hussain: DAWN magazine editor.

Mariam Ali Baig: Editor Aurora magazine.

Arifa Noor: Editor Herald.

Reba Shahid: Editor Spider

Beena Sarwar: Beena Sarwar is an artist, journalist and documentary filmmaker focusing on human rights, gender, media, and peace. She was Features Editor of 'The Frontier Post', Lahore, founding editor of weekly 'The News on Sunda\', Pakistan and is on the Editorial Board of monthly Himal Southasian, Kathmandu

Ayesha Haroon: Editor The Nation.

Public Welfare Contributors:
This list could be endless too.There are numerous social workers workign under different banners, making an effort to contribute to society.

Bilquis Edhi: administrator and co-owner of Edhi Foundation (especially the Women’s wing). Edhi Foundation operates the world’s largest volunteer ambulance service. In addition, Edhi’s staff runs a missing-persons hot line and more than a dozen homes for orphans, the homeless, battered women, the mentally ill and drug addicts. He has set up literacy-training courses for all ages, free medical clinics and a soup kitchen that serves 1,000 free meals a day. She is a receiver of The Rotary Club Award and The 1986 Ramon Magsay Award for public service (Phillipines) and is currently being considered for the UNICEF award for Women’s Welfare Work.

Hasan Ara Begum: Pioneered meena bazaars for ladies. founded an orphanage known as Bait-ul-AfJal. During partition, she supervised the women refugee relief committees working for the penniless and disabled people.

Tehmina Janjua :Deputy permanent representative to Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva.

Kehkashan Azhar: Occupies the number two slot in UN’s Hague mission

Dr. Nafis Sadik: Gynaecologist by profession. Nafis Sadik has received awards from governments and organizations in many countries including Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Egypt and the United States. When she accepted the post of Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 1987, she became one of the highest ranking women in the UN and the first women ever to serve as an executive head of one of the UN’s major voluntarily funded programs. Echoing the sentiments of many others, at the Hague International Forum in 1999, Hillary Rodham Clinton said of Nafis Sadik, “I believe that the world owes her a debt of gratitude for all she has done over the years to place women at the very center of development.”


Fine Arts and Performing Arts:
I have not included actresses, singers, performers, anchors etc in this list in an effort to make it short.

Salima Hashmi: Salima Hashmi is one of the most well-known artists of Pakistan. Besides being an accomplished painter, she taught at Pakistan's prestigious National College of Arts (NCA) for about thirty years and served as the Principle of NCA for four years. In 1999, Salima Hashmi received Pakistan's Pride of Performance award. Today she is the Dean of School of Visual Arts at the newly established Beaconhouse National University in Lahore and she also runs her own art gallery featuring works of young artists.

Prof. Naazish Ata-Ullah: Current principal, National College of Art, Lahore. Head of Printmaking in the Department of Fine Art, National College of Arts in Lahore, and a graduate of studies in Printmaking at Slade School of Fine Art in London, Naazish Ata-Ullah has extensive printmaking experience. She has exhibited across Pakistan, India, UK and Scandinavia and has advised and prepared papers for International organisations.

Zubeida Agha was a Pakistani artist. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, she was the first artist to have an exhibition of her paintings. She introduced non-traditional pictorial imagery in Pakistan and initiated a new era in painting

Laila Shahzada: One of Pakistan's most internationally renowned artists. She was of the first women painters in Pakistan to gain international recognition, with exhibitions around the world including Pakistan, London, Paris, Tokyo, Monte Carlo and New York. She was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan in 1984 and the Pride of Performance in 1995. She was also awarded the "Key to the City" of New York -- the only Pakistani to receive this award.

Prof Anna Molka Ahmed was a famous Pakistani artist and pioneer of fine arts in the country. She was a professor of fine arts at the University of the Punjab in Lahore. She was awarded Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, the highest civil award for her services in the field of fine arts education in the country.In 1940, Professor Emeritus Anna Molka Ahmed set up the Department of Fine Arts, now the College of Arts & Design at the University of the Punjab which has now become a center of excellence for Fine Arts in Pakistan.

Naiza Khan: Head of Painting at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. She is a founder member of the working group ‘Vasl International Artists,’ a network initiative based in the UK. She has exhibited throughout Asia, USA, Australia and Europe.

Ambreen Butt: Pakistani artist first recipient of the James and Audrey Foster Prize given by the Institute of Contemporary Art, She also recently received the Maud Morgan Prize from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her other awards include Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painters, Canada Council for the Arts and Artist in Residence at the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston.

Mehreen Jabbar: Mehreen Jabbar is a young filmmaker who has made several short independent art films to commercial serials for television. Her success as a director can be assessed by the fact that her work has appeared in many film festivals around the world. She studied in US and completed a two year program at UCLA in film making.

Sabiha Sumar: Independent filmmaker, Sabiha Sumar, has earned much acclaim for her films. She won the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2003 and Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1998.


Outstanding Professionals:
Am just listing two because there are countless doctors, engineers, IT professionals, MBAs etc...would take forever to mention pakistani women who have excelled in these fields...

Dr. Nafis Sadik: Gynaecologist by profession. Nafis Sadik has received awards from governments and organizations in many countries including Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Egypt and the United States. When she accepted the post of Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 1987, she became one of the highest ranking women in the UN and the first women ever to serve as an executive head of one of the UN’s major voluntarily funded programs. Echoing the sentiments of many others, at the Hague International Forum in 1999, Hillary Rodham Clinton said of Nafis Sadik, “I believe that the world owes her a debt of gratitude for all she has done over the years to place women at the very center of development.”

Yasmeen Lari: Yasmeen Lari has the distinction of being Pakistan’s first woman architect. She is the Principle of Lari Associates, one of the best-known architecural practies in the country. Now serving as an advisor to UNESCO project, Conservation and Preservation of Lahore Fort. She is also the executive director of Heritage Foundation and the Chairperson of Karavan Initiatives, both are organizations devoted to historic preservation. President of the Institute of Architects, Pakistan (IAP) and the first Chairperson of the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners (PCATP).


Entrepreneurs:
Few of the many are:

Atiqa Odho: CEO of two companies “Odho productions” and “Odho cosmetics”. Reknown TV artist, make-up artist and hairstylist. She has studied several courses in film making, theater and voice training in NYC.

Ambreen Gul and Anam Faiq: 2 of 7 Fighter pilots trained to fly F-7 supersonic fighter jets.

Veena Masud :Honorary Secretary of the Pakistan Women’s Swimming Association, president of the Sindh Women’s Swimming Association, and executive committee member of the Pakistan Olympic Association.

Naela Chohan is a Pakistani diplomat and feminist artist. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Film Censor Board, and of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Employment Corporation of Pakistan, and Inter State Gas System (Pvt). Naela Chohan also has experience in Chemical Weapons Disarmament, being the first civilian and woman to head the National Authority on the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention in Pakistan. She is an alumnus of Quaid-e-Azam University, the Centre d'Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques, The École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, École du Louvre, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Arfa Karim Randhawa: one of the youngest Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) in the world. MKRF working with Microsoft, Pakistan awarded Arfa with the Shabash award for her achievements. She received the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal, the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award and the President's Award for Pride.


Athletes:
Contrary to popular perception women’s sports were never banned in the country. Women participate in various sports all over the country – cricket, hockey, track, swimming, football – even participating in international competitions.

Fourteen of Pakistani women swimmers at the Fourth Islamic Women’s Games (Tehran, September 2005), won 10 of Pakistan’s 19 medals. They came second in the swimming events and seventh among the 45 participating countries. Pakistan sent two women swimmers (Sana Wahid and Kiran Khan) to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, July 2001. In the 9th SAF (South Asian Federation) Games in Islamabad 2004, Pakistani girls took 14 medals in womens swimming.

Pakistan women football team has played against Afghanistan and Jordan and are planning to visit Maldives and Norway this year.

Rubab Raza: first female swimmer to represent Pakistan at the Olympics at Athens

Kiran Khan: Pakistani swimmer olympian to Beijing.

Sumera Zahoor: Pakistani female track Olympian

Anmaar Habib: first women skier to represent Pakistan at an international level and she is now training for 2010 winter Olympics

Academics:
This would have been a long list.... there are thousands of pakistani women associated with fields of education and health working in Pakistan and abroad. It would be a tiresome job to list even the highest contributors.I have mentioned just a couple of such women.

Prof. Dr. Bushra Mateen: Vice Chancellor - Lahore College for Women University. Her remarkable achievement is that UNESCO has established ISESCO/UNESCO chair for women in science in the Asian region in Lahore College for Women University on 18th DEC 2004. President Sports Committee, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. Member Board of Governors, Fatima Jinnah College (Choona Mandi). Member Chancellor Committee Fatima Jinnah Women University 1998-2000. President Punjab Women Hockey Association. Vice President Punjab Volley ball Association.

Ayesha Jalal: is a sociologist and historian. She is a professor of history at Tufts University and a MacArthur Fellow. Jalal is among the most prominent American academics who writes on the history of India and Pakistan. Jalal taught at Columbia University for several years

Politicians:

Fatima Jinnah: One of the leaders of Pakistan's independence movement. A dentist by profession at a time when taking up a profession was considered inappropriate for girls in India.

Rana L. A. Khan: Founder and life-long president of APWA, Begum Liaquat played a pioneering role in the advancement of women in political, educational, economic and other fields. A chain of schools, colleges, industrial homes and other institutions were set up by the APWA. In the field of education, she founded Rana Liaquat Ali Khan College of Home Economics which opened home economic colleges in Karachi, Lahore and Dhaka. Other important women’s bodies that she founded included the Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Friends of APWA and the International Women’s Club.

Benazir Bhutto: former prime minister of Pakistan and Chairperson of Pakistan people’s party.

Dr.Maleeha Lodhi: a journalist-turned-diplomat, high commissioner to the UK. Pakistan’s longest serving ambassador to the US.

Seema Naqvi: director general of policy planning. Pakistani embassador to Egypt.

Fauzia Abbas: Pakistani embassador to Denmark

Asma Anisa: Pakistani embassador to France

Tasnim Aslam: First woman diplomat to serve as the Foreign Office spokesperson. First Pakistani woman diplomat to be appointed as ambassador to Italy.

Naghmana Hashmi: Pakistani embassador to Ireland

Zehra Akbari: Pakistani embassador to Mexico

Seema Baloch: Pakistani embassador to Poland

Fauzia Sana: Pakistani embassador to Portugal

Ayesha Riaz: Pakistani embassador to Switzerland

Humaira Hasan: Pakistani embassador to Spain

Riffat Iqbal: Pakistani embassador to Zimbabwe

Fauzia Nasreen: Former ambassador to Nepal.

Atiya Mehmud: Additional foreign secretary, Foreign ministry headquarter, US division.

Shireen Moiz,: former additional foreign secretary. Former Ambassador of Pakistan to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Shehrbano Rehman: journalist, former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Pakistan, formoer editor-in-chief of Herald. First Pakistani to be recognized with an award for independent journalism by the UK House of Lords in its Muslim World Awards Ceremony 2002.

Barrister Shahida Jamil: First woman in Pakistan to be appointed as Provincial Law Minister, Sind and then Federal Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs. Advocate High Court of Sindh since 1980 L.L. M. Professor on “Human Rights” at Pakistan’s leading legal education institution, Sindh Muslim Law College, Karachi since 1987. World Bank Consultant, on “Karachi Port Trust Legal Framework Study” for the World Bank, Washington, USA. Chairperson Regional Steering Committee (Asia-Pacific) for the Economic Advancement of Rural & Island women. President Pakistan Hockey Federation (Women’s Wing). President Pakistan-Bangladesh Federation Association.

Perveen Sikandar Gill : Secretary, Pakistan Hockey Federation (Women Wing); Vice President, Punjab Olympic Association Punjab; and Senior Vice President, Lahore College Old Association Pakistan. She has also served as Deputy Speaker, City District Government Lahore; as Member City District Government, Lahore; and as Councillor Municipal Corporation Lahore for four terms during 1979-98. She has been elected as Member Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in General Elections 2002 against one of the seats reserved for women; and is functioning as Chairperson, Standing Committee on Sports since September 12, 2003; and is also member of Standing Committee on Education.

Nilofar Bakhtiar: Former Federal Minister for Tourism. Founder and chairperson of The National Committee for the Repatriation.

Fehmida Mirza: First woman to be elected as speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly.

and many more......................................