Women are too shrill, too hysterical, too woman.
It is an ancient phrase from Hellenistic and Roman times but unfortunately even today many chauvinists and anti-feminists seek relevance in it. From ancient Greece until the modern-day, the patriarchy has spoken of women as meek creatures who are meant to serve men through their feminine looks and cooking skills.
Women and their struggle have long been hindered by this particular mindset and repression has strangled the growth of women in developing as individuals. Women have been exploited in every system and even their stories have historically remained unsung.
Today, as the world celebrates International Women’s Day, times are changing, or rather being changed by the hands of exceptional women across the seven continents. Our country too is lit with such exceptional women who have gone an extra mile to make themselves and the whole nation proud but not every one of these iron-ladies made it to the limelight. This year, The Blind Side has decided to share the immeasurably important stories of such ladies who have gone above and beyond but are not hyped as they deserve. Here, we have compiled a list of 15 extraordinary women who have set examples in their respective fields.
- Nabeeha Ejaz Khan
Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Nabeeha Ejaz is a talented and skilled anchor and news editor who has worked with different news channels of Pakistan. She is one of the top journalists of Pakistan who has also made a mark in the dazzling world of morning shows due to her extraordinary aptitude. She started her career as a Radio Jockey from Punjab University Radio. Soon she made a television debut from Dunya tv, worked for Geo news network, and is now currently hosting Neo News Morning Show. With her charismatic personality and spectacular elocution, Nabeeha surely is a beauty with brains.
- Dr. Mariam
Dr. Mariam is a Pakistani origin doctor and entrepreneur based in Dubai. She broke the glass ceiling of stereotypes when she adopted a baby girl and proved that it is not necessary to wait for years for a miracle to happen. Instead, you can adopt an orphan child and up-bring her/him. Dr. Mariam came to Pakistan from Dubai for the sake of child adoption and has taken full responsibility for the child. Dr. Maryam has set an example for everyone having second thoughts about adaption and shown society how beautiful foster parenting can be. It’s a heartwarming sight to see Mariam and her daughter happy and involved with each other.
- Saman Iqbal
Saman Iqbal is a journalist linked to Voice of America since 2017. She started her career in journalism in 2006 when she got an opportunity to work as an interviewer in a project by United Nations Office in Drugs and Crime in collaboration with Anti-Narcotics Force. Saman got her first television gig at a local news channel called Star Asia, as a News Anchor. It was just a start and soon she became an emerging name in the news industry. During her journey, Saman has worked as a producer, News researcher, News editor, and package producer. She was also part of the 2014 US-Pakistan journalism exchange program where she worked as an intern at a news channel based in Colorado. She has won multiple awards in her field including a couple of Voice of America awards in two different categories. The list of her achievements exceeds Saman’s age which makes her a role model for young girls to look up to.
- Sehrish Mansoor
Sehrish Mansoor is a news anchor who has earned a name in the industry in no time. Sehrish has worked for almost all the big news channels of Pakistan including CNBC, Samaa TV, Dawn, and Ary News. She started her career just as a reporter and today she shines among the successful news anchors of the industry. Sehrish is one of the prominent anchors of Ary News. Recently, she got hitched and decided to quit the News industry to focus on her married life. She is moving to the USA with her husband. Sehrish is a laudable example of how women can be empowered either in personal or professional life. We congratulate her for beginning a new chapter in her life and wish her all the best in her upcoming adventures.
- Farzana Siddique
Farzana Siddique is an incredible woman who is working as the only female crime reporter in the entire Faisalabad region. Although she got her education in law and secured an LLB degree, Farzana chose the most challenging branch of journalism and became a crime reporter. Like any other woman going out of the way would be, Farzana was told that women could not go to murder and crime sites. But instead of adhering to such conventionalized clichés, she continued following her passion. She was also elected as the first-ever woman Vice-President of the Faisalabad Press Club in about 30 years. Farzana is an inspiration in herself and she advises aspiring women journalists not to be ‘blackmailed’ and stand firmly against everyone who lets them down.
- Sadia Vine
Sadia Vine is a Motivational Speaker, Psychologist, Career Counselor, Relationship Coach, Teacher, Trainer, Healer, Educationist, and Philanthropist. Sadia has previously served as a lecturer of English at Steps University and Headmistress at Beaconhouse. She is a former HOD of the University of South Asia Lahore. She is the owner and principal of International Grammar School. Miss Sadia started giving motivational speaking sessions in 2017 and has been a lighthouse of guidance for youth and adults alike. Her admirers call her the golden key that can open any door.
- Tahira Jalib
Tahira Jalib is the daughter of Pakistan’s revolutionary poet Habib Jalib. She is living a life not any less inspiring than that of her father’s. Tahira is a resident of Lahore and drives a private taxi to support her family. She also works with Netsol technologies, a Lahore-based Software Company. She is the sole bread earner of her kin and for her family’s sake, she has not even married. Like her father, Tahira is filled with pride and self-respect and instead of accepting the government’s small stipend, Tahira works hard and earns with her own hands. Due to lack of formal education, making her ends meet is not an easy task for her but she is determined to stand tall and follow in her father’s footsteps.
- Naila Kiani
Naila Kiani is a superwoman who is a mountaineer, boxer, aerospace engineer, and mother. Going against the odds, Naila has brilliantly busted all the stereotypes. Naila understands the problems faced by common wanna-be athlete girls, including the absence of proper training facilities and lack of time or opportunity, so she has introduced online basic training for boxing. Despite the hooligan outlook she carries with her profession, Naila’s wedding was a complete fairytale that took place at K-2 base camp where the temperature drops to minus 20-30 degrees at night. Naila is also into trekking and is now inclined towards mountain climbing.
- Dr. Zareen Zuhra
Dr. Zareen is a Ph.D. scholar, the hardworking daughter of a hardworking father. Being the daughter of a factory Laborer, she grew up listening to hurtful, demotivating, and discouraging remarks from society. Instead of being ashamed, Zareen like her father chose a life of hard work and started helping her mother in her sewing business since she was very little. Once she had begun, she never looked back and kept achieving milestone after milestone. She got a PPSC lectureship, accepted an offer from OGDCL (Oil and Gas Development Company), worked as a junior scientist in Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, and also successfully pulled-off a Ph.D. scholarship in China and an indigenous scholarship from Higher Education Pakistan (HEC).
Currently, Dr. Zareen Zuhra is pursuing Post Doctorate and also runs an initiative for better education of Pakistani children.
- Sana Arif
Sana Arif is a cyclist, obstacle course-runner, abstract painter, and mountaineer. She started mountain climbing in 2017 from the Mount Everest base camp and climbed a few more mountains in Oman as well. Sana is very patriotic about Pakistan even though she was born in Kuwait and she is seen with Pakistan’s flag in every photograph in which she is achieving something. Despite crossing the ‘right age’ of 30 years for marriage, Sana has not married and chosen her passion over societal compulsions. She believes a woman should be strong enough to handle any kind of situation and marriage should mean companionship rather than dependence over a male partner just because you are not prepared to face the world.
- Rabia Syed
Rabia Syed is a super-intuitive girl gifted with clairvoyance, empathy, and extra-sensory abilities. Besides being clairvoyance and a psychic reader, she is a certified clinical hypnotherapist, Reiki master teacher, crystal therapist, color therapist, chakra healer, and feng shui expert. She is also a mediation teacher and holistic counselor. She has a psychotherapy degree as well, which is related to psychology. While we see everyone with a skeptical eye who claims to be a psychic, Rabia is gifted with intuition and empathy. She moved to Canada to hone her skills and has clients from all over the world, including India, Canada, the US, and other countries. She wants to introduce it to the people of Pakistan and help them with her special gift.
- Rameesha Adil Khan
Rameesha Adil is the power-lifting gold-medalist from the Lahore Division of Pakistan. She did 100kg squats and 115kgs deadlifts on the district level and won the gold. Rameesha got married when she was only 18 and remained married for 11 years but ended it herself when she realized her true potential. Rameesha had a craze for weight-lifting since her childhood. She started simply as a gym member and her passion led her all the way to the road of success. Rameesha has been in this field for 10 years now. From 11 years of marriage without any kids to divorce to opting for a career considered not suitable for women to win a gold medal in weight-lifting, Rameesha is a true depiction of women empowerment.
- Mahoor Shahzad
Pakistan’s international Badminton star Mahoor Shahzad is the Wonder Woman who has managed to retain the title of National Champion for five consecutive years. She is the only female Badminton player who has targeted the international level for training and fitness. The champion lady has represented Pakistan in numerous international tournaments. She has been a consistent part of Pakistan’s contingent for the South Asian Games since 2014, besides, having represented Pakistan in the Commonwealth Games in 2018. She also participated in the FZ Forza Bulgarian International Championship 2019 on her own finances and stood third in the event. Despite a lack of facilities and bare minimum support from National Sports Institutions, she is determined to make it into the top 100s in the international rankings that will help her qualify for the Olympics 2021.
14. Sana Mohsin
Sana Mohsin is a businesswoman, a supermom, and a superwife. Sana was a freelancer event planner and in 2020, she launched her own setup. But only two months into her newly launched company and the lockdown was announced, her husband fell ill and her daughter was bedridden due to surgery. Managing finances, paying medical bills, looking after her sick husband and daughter, all at the same time was indeed challenging for her. But she doubled her efforts and kept supporting her family financially as well. Today her business is growing and her husband’s health is improving. Sana also carries hijab in spite of her own family’s opposition and is proud of her choice. She is the epitome of resilience for every woman out there.
- Natasha Shah
Natasha Shah is an astounding and accomplished woman who has aced every stride in her career. She got an anthropology degree from Quaid e Azam University, Islamabad, and did Masters in Public Administration from Virginia Tech, USA. She works as a Regional Pay and Benefits Manager for the foreign and Commonwealth Office (British Embassy) in Washington DC. She has also worked with multiple nonprofit organizations and companies in Pakistan and the US. Despite this tremendous profile of educational and professional excellence, she is often tormented by society for not being married. Natasha not only handles all the criticism with positivity, but she also wants her life partner to be attributed with an upright character and has not set any materialistic criterion. She also aspires to be a better person as a daughter, wife, mother, and sister and acquire better positions and maximize her potentials in her field.
Our love, support, and prayers are with Natasha and all other wonderful ladies of Pakistan who stand tall in front of all obstacles and leave no stone unturned to reach their dreams.
Happy Women’s Day Ladies, the sky is the limit.
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