Professor one of the 100 most influential Pakistani Women

Professor Shaheen Ali / Photo: Warwick Media Library

Warwick University law professor Shaheen Ali has been named one of the 100 most influential Pakistani women in a list titled ‘Women Power 100’.

The list is intended to recognise the achievements of Pakistani women that, over the course of the last 60 years, “broke records, broke ground, blazed trails… in a male-dominated world”.

Other notable figures included in the list are Fatima Bhutto, the famous writer, poet and activist, and Baroness Warsi, who sits in the House of Lords.

Prof. Ali has been recognised for her work in the field of human rights.

She was elected as an independent expert to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and has conducted research into women’s rights and Islamic law.

Many would argue that the Warwick professor has certainly lived up to the billing given in ‘Women Power 100’ of breaking ground and blazing trails.

She was the first female Law professor in Pakistan, the first female Pakistani academic to become a Professor of Law in the UK, and the first chair of the National Commission on the Status of Women in Pakistan. She also achieved the Asian Women of Achievement Award in May 2005.

Prof. Ali commented: “My inclusion in the 100 most influential women of Pakistan is a huge honour, as there are many more deserving and eminent women than myself who remain thus unrecognised.

“My research has always been grounded in my experiences and activism at the grassroots, which has ensured that its impact in the field of human rights has been recognised by the UN, as well as by women’s groups in Pakistan.”