Category Archives: Women

The MDG failure

Development and Poverty, Education, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

IN the context of education in Pakistan, 2012 will be long remembered as the Year of Malala Yusufzai. Nobody can forget that fateful October afternoon when this teenager from Swat, whose love for education is legendary, was shot at point blank range by two armed men. She was on her way home from school. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Malala was lucky. She escaped death and is now recovering in a British hospital.

The Millennium Development Goals are a UN initiative. Image Credit: Wikipedia.org

More significant than this act of terrorism was the outcry it evoked. It proved above all that the people of Pakistan – with a few obscurantist exceptions – stood for education for their children. Could they be blamed if the government denied them this right? Continue reading The MDG failure →

An unfinished agenda

Human Rights, Islamisation, War and Peace, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

IT is gratifying that the government of Pakistan has conferred a civilian award posthumously on Iqbal Haider, a former law minister and senator but remembered now as one of the country’s foremost human rights and peace activists.

The award came befittingly on Dec 10, Human Rights Day. This was shortly after a reference was organised by the Joint Action Committee and a number of civil society organisations at the Karachi Press Club last Wednesday.

When the reference was held, it was over three weeks since Iqbal Haider had departed from our midst. But a sense of loss continued to haunt the occasion which brought together a large crowd of his friends and admirers who recalled his services to the numerous good causes he passionately supported. Continue reading An unfinished agenda →

Sisterhood of women

Education, Human Rights, Media, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa

RECENTLY, Judy Woodruff, the founding co-chair of the International Women Media Foundation (IWMF), summed up the goal of the organisation’s architects thus: to “promote opportunity for women journalists around the globe” and “highlight the work that women are doing in other countries, especially in those countries where there’s not a free press, and where they are dealing with an oppressive government, or oppressive financial interests who don’t want the story told”.

The IWMF wants to “provide women this extra lift” and it has been doing this for the last 22 years since it was launched by a group of enterprising women journalists. It exemplifies perfectly the global sisterhood of women that feminist activists have talked about for years. Continue reading Sisterhood of women →

Zubdeida Mustafa’s acceptance speech

Media, Women

I feel greatly honored to be here to receive this award. I receive this award also on behalf of all my fellow journalists in Pakistan who have struggled collectively for years for press freedom which created the space for me to write on issues that are close to my heart, which made this award possible. Their struggle has been vindicated.

Also deserving recognition are the women journalists in my country who followed the path I charted out for myself. Thus they honored me. Had they not done so, I would not have earned the description of a “pioneer”.

I feel humble before my fellow professionals here, Khadija from Azerbaijan, Asmaa from Palestine and Reeyot from Ethiopia who have won the courage in journalism awards. They risked their lives and freedom and deserve our admiration. They inspire me. Many years ago in 1994, a very dear friend and colleague of mine, the late Razia Bhatti, also won this honor and that is how the IWMF was introduced to Pakistan. We learnt about the good work the IWMF is doing to encourage female journalists to realize their full potential. Continue reading Zubdeida Mustafa’s acceptance speech →

U.S. Media Elite Honor Female Pakistani Journalist for Her Courage

Education, Media, Women

By Tabby Biddle

Zubeida Mustafa at the IWMF Courage in Journalism Awards in NYC. Photo credit: IWMF/Stan Honda

Zubeida Mustafa was the first woman to work in Pakistan’s mainstream media. That was more than 30 years ago. Today, because of Zubeida’s courage to use her voice, report on other women’s voices, and argue for hiring policies that would allow women to occupy all positions in the newsroom, life is different for women in Pakistan.

“I wanted to create space for women and I thought if there were more, it would give them strength,” says Zubeida.

Over her three-decade career, Zubeida worked through extreme political instability, media censorship, gender barriers and social upheaval as the assistant editor of Dawn, a widely-respected English-language daily newspaper in Pakistan.

Continue reading U.S. Media Elite Honor Female Pakistani Journalist for Her Courage →