Conquering the world with their documentaries, campaigns, and cartoons, four Pakistani women have made it to BBC’s 100 Women list.
Among BBC’s 100 women are a documentary film-maker and Oscar award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Internet rights activist Sana Saleem, filmmaker and campaigner Sarah Jehaan Khan and cartoonist Nigar Nazar.
The first Pakistani female cartoonist, Nigar Nazar is Gogi Studios’ mastermind and lead cartoonist. A subtle, bilingual (available in English and Urdu) commentary on local gender issues, these comics are an important part of an emotive venture. From raising awareness to childhood development to a life of poverty to education and environmental degradation, Gogi covers a gamut of our society’s positives and pitfalls.
Internet rights activist, Sana Saleem is the director of the Bolo Bhi non-profit group that advocates free speech.
She is also the co-founder of Stories Beyond Borders, a crowd-sourced storytelling platform connecting personal stories for advocacy and policy change.
A Pakistani Briton, Sarah Jehaan Khan is an environmental campaigner and filmmaker, who uses film to raise awareness about solutions to issues affecting women and girls.
Her film Harvesting Hope won second prize at a film festival held at Harvard University at the ‘Girl’s Impact the World Film Festival’. The film is about the health complications women cotton pickers face due to excessive use of chemical pesticides, and the importance of organic farming.
Emphasising on the need to invest more in women, Khan said female participation is always fruitful for a society.
Lauded as Pakistan’s first Oscar winner, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz for her documentary Saving Face.
Empowering women and bringing their plight to the forefront through her documentaries, Obaid-Chinoy won as Academy Award-winning film for her short documentary titled Humaira: The Dream Catcher.
Two-time Emmy winner, the film-maker received two Emmy Awards for the Best Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form categories in 2013 and also the accolade in the Current Affairs category for her documentary Children of the Taliban in 2010.