Pakistani Shad Begum receives US courage award

Pakistani Shad Begum receives US courage award

Shad Begum, a brave lady from Pakistan was among 10 of the world’s leading women activists the United States (US) honored their efforts to improve the living-standard of the gender.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented the International Women of Courage Award of US State Department to Shad Begum on March 8th, 2012.

It was a truly matter of great honor for Pakistani people that a woman of lower educational class has proved that if you posses a passion to go beyond the limits in order to achieve certain aims, no hurdle, obstruction or barricade detract  your from accomplishing that achievement.

Hailing from Lower Dir district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Shad Begum worked for women in a deeply conservative area, which was briefly run by the militants before the Pakistan Army cleared it in May 2009.

On the occasion, Hillary Clinton said that all 10 women had worked diligently to improve the lives of women and girls, sometimes at great personal risks. Some of them were also imprisoned and abused for their efforts, she added.

Pakistani ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman was also present at the ceremony. She upraised the PPP’s led government’s enacted legislative measures to protect and advance women’s rights.

She observed, “We passed legislation criminalizing sexual harassment in the workplace. We passed legislation making it mandatory to appoint neutral mediators at all levels to adjudicate charges of sexual discrimination”.

Shad Begum founded Anjuman Behbood-i-Khawateen Talash (ABKT), which is also the first women rights organization in the region. Later, the name of the organization was changed as Association for Behavior and Knowledge Transformation (ABKT).

As founder and executive director of ABKT, She provides political training, microcredit, primary education, and health services to women in the native area.

She, however, not only empowered the women of Dir to vote and run for office, she herself ran and won local seats in the 2001 and 2005 elections against local conservatives who tried to ban women participation.

In the traditional Pashtun culture, women are discouraged to consult with any male doctors so many women die from illness without getting proper treatment.

The brave lady raised this issue before the authorities, commencing an effective campaign for this purpose.

Additionally, Shad Begum and her organization also executed several projects including construction of hanging bridges, installation of hand pumps, sinking wells, pavement of streets, provision of small loans to local traders and capacity building of women at grassroots level.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=15294

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Mar 10 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.