Many Pak women made country proud

LAHORE: Despite being ranked very low in terms of women development, a good number of internationally-acknowledged Pakistani ladies have done the country proud by bringing a good name to their motherland.
Since Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of the nation’s founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the rise to the top for these globally-recognized Pakistani women (discussed below) was never easy because not only did they have to look into the eye of the storm at times, but they also had to show immense courage by laughing in the face of adversity.With reference to Pakistan, here follow a few illustrious female names in this context:
On October 10, 2014, when the Swat-born Malala Yousafzai was announced as the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education, she actually became the youngest-ever Nobel Laureate in 113 years to have bagged the prestigious international award at the age of 17 years, 2 months and 28 days only.Former two-time Pakistani Premier, late Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), was the first-ever woman to be elected as the head of any Islamic state’s government in 1988.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri (elected 2001), former Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller (served1993-1995) and the Bangladeshi Prime Ministers Begum Khaleda Zia (first elected in 1991) and Sheikh Hasina Wajed (first elected in 1996) had served as the heads of state/government in the Muslim world after Benazir Bhutto had set the tone.
The first woman Governor of Sindh, Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1905-1990), the wife of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, had stunned the world when she was appointed her country’s ambassador to the Netherlands in 1954. She was the first female envoy of Pakistan to be posted abroad.
Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan was the first-ever Muslim woman delegate to the United Nations in 1952, shortly after her husband’s assassination.
In 1978, this first-ever First Lady of Pakistan was awarded the United Nations Human Rights Award, in 1950 she had won the Jane Adaam’s Medal (named after pioneer American in women’s suffrage and world peace), Begum Ra’ana was then bestowed Holland’s reputable Grand Cross of Orange Nassau Award in 1961 by the then Dutch Queen Juliana, she had then bagged the International Gamble Award and $5,000 in 1962 while she was serving as country’s ambassador to Italy, she was chosen as the Woman of the World in 1965 by the Turkish Women’s Association and was the recipient of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic or the Cavalier did Grin Croce Award (Italy’s highest ranking honour) in 1966.
For rendering meritorious services to the military as a civilian, the Pakistan Army had also appointed Begum Riana Liquate Ali Khan as the first woman brigadier-general and an honorary uniform was issued especially for her.
Henna Rabbinic Char was appointed Pakistan’s first-ever female foreign minister in July 2011. Before Henna, Lela Shekel had served as Azerbaijan’s Secretary of State or Minister for Foreign Affairs during 1993-1994.
Here follow the names of some more outstanding and internationally-acclaimed Pakistani women:
Princess Sarah El Hessian or Sarah Ikramullah (she is the wife of Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan since August 28, 1968), Shamila Chaudhry (she had served as member of the American Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and as a senior adviser to the late Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke in February 2009); the late Nusrat Bhutto, the wife of ex-Pakistani Prime Minister and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, (she had led the Pakistani delegation to the United Nations’ first women’s conference in 1975); Dr. Attiya Inayatullah (she was member of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and a leading member of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation); former State Bank of Pakistan Governor and a Harvard University Fulbright Programme alumni, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, (she was appointed by the President Pervez Musharraf as the Governor of the country’s Central Bank for three years in December 2005. She had previously held key positions with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank), Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy (an American Academy Award-winning film maker had made Pakistan win its first-ever Oscar Award through her documentary ‘Saving Face.’ She won an Emmy Award for her documentary “Pakistan: Children of the Taliban” in 2010. The Pakistani president had conferred the Hilal-e-Imtiaz on Sharmeen on March 23, 2012 for bringing honour to Pakistan as a filmmaker. The Time magazine had named her within their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2012 ), the late Arfa Kareem (she was youngest Microsoft certified professional in the world till 2008) and Naseem Hameed (she was branded the fastest woman of South Asia after she had won a gold medal in the 100-metre race at the 2010 South Asian Games in Dhaka) etc.
Although the International Women’s Day is globally observed since March 1911, the “fair sex” in Pakistan continues to be the victim of male chauvinism, besides being subjected to gender-based violence, prejudice and reactionary attitudes of the society.
However, it is heartening to see the International Women’s Day being celebrated every year in Pakistan, along with over 100 countries of the world, though the nation is miles behind the likes of Australia which had issued a commemorative 20 cent coin in 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of this event.