Begum Begum (also begüm, bagum, begom, begam, baigum or beygum) is an honorific title from Central Asia, Central and South Asia, often used by leading women in society, including Royal family, royals, aristocrats, first lady, first ladies and prime ...

Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah (22 July 1915 – 11 December 2000) was a Bengali Pakistani

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. She was the first Muslim woman to earn a PhD from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She was Pakistan's ambassador to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

from 1964 to 1967, and a delegate to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, calling for a more gender-inclusive language in

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

Family and education

Ikramullah was born as Shaista Akhtar Banu Suhrawardy into the

Suhrawardy family The Suhrawardy family with over nine hundred years of recorded history has been one of the oldest leading noble families and political dynasties of the Indian subcontinent and is regarded as an important influencer during the Bengali Renaiss ...

to Hassan Suhrawardy and his wife Sahibzadi Shah Banu Begum. Sahista's mother was

Nawab Abdul Latif Nawab Bahadur Qazi Abdul Latif (1828 – 10 July 1893) was a Bengali Muslim aristocrat, educator and social worker. His title, ''Nawab'' was awarded by the British in 1880. He was one of the first Muslims in 19th-century India to embrace the id ...

's granddaughter. She studied at Loreto College, Kolkata. She was also the first Muslim woman to earn a PhD from the

. Her doctorate thesis, "Development of the Urdu Novel and Short Story", was a critical survey of Urdu literature.Begum Shaista Ikramullah
storyofpakistan.com website, Retrieved 8 April 2019

Marriage and children

She married

Mohammed Ikramullah Mohammad Ikramullah Hilal-e-Pakistan, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (hon), Order of the Indian Empire, CIE, Knight Grand Cross Portuguese Order of Christ (; 15 January 1903 – 12 September 1963) was a figure in the administration ...

in 1933. They had four children: * Imam Ikramullah * Naz Ashraf *

Salma Sobhan Salma Sobhan (; 11 August 1937 – 30 December 2003) was a Bangladeshi lawyer, academic and human rights activist. She became the first woman barrister in Pakistan in 1959. A member of the law faculty of the University of Dhaka, she was a co-foun ...

* Princess Sarvath of Jordan

Political career

After her marriage, she was one of the first Indian Muslim women in her generation to leave

purdah Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of sex segregation prevalent among some Muslim, Zoroastrian and Hindu communities. The purdah garment is the same as a burqa, or yashmak, i.e a veil ...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

inspired her to be involved in politics. She was a leader in the Muslim Women Student's Federation and the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslims, Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim L ...

's Women's Sub-Committee. In 1945, she was asked by the Government of India to attend the Pacific Relations Conference. Jinnah convinced her not to accept the offer, as he wanted her to go as the representative of the Muslim League and to speak on its behalf. She was elected to the

Constituent Assembly of India Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated ...

in 1946, but never took the seat, as Muslim League politicians did not. She was one of two female representatives at the first

Constituent Assembly of Pakistan The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was the supreme federal legislature of the Dominion of Pakistan. It was established in August 1947 with the primary tasks of framing Constitution of Pakistan of 1956, a constitution; and serving as an interim ...

in 1947. She was also a delegate to the

, and worked on the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

(1948) and the Convention Against Genocide (1951). She was Pakistan's ambassador to

from 1964 to 1967.

Publications

She wrote for ''Tehzeeb-e-Niswan'' and ''Ismat'', both Urdu women's magazines, and later wrote for English-language newspapers. In 1950 her collection of short stories, called ''Koshish-e-Natamaam'', was published. In 1951 her book ''Letters to Neena'' was published; it is a collection of ten open letters supposedly written to Indians, who are personified as a woman called Neena. The real Neena was one of her in-laws. After the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, she wrote about Islam for the government, and those essays were eventually published as ''Beyond the Veil'' (1953). Her autobiography, ''From Purdah to Parliament'' (1963), is her best-known writing; she translated it into Urdu to make it more accessible. In 1991 her book ''

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (8 September 18925 December 1963) was an East Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and before that as the Prime Minister of Bengal from 1946 to ...

: A Biography'', about her uncle, was published. She also was one of the eight writers of the book ''Common Heritage'' (1997), about India and Pakistan. In her last days, she completed an English translation of ''Mirat ul Uroos'' and an Urdu volume on ''Kahavat aur Mahavray''. In 2005 her collection of women's sayings and idioms in Urdu, called ''Dilli ki khavatin ki kahavatain aur muhavare'', was posthumously published. She also wrote ''Safarnama'', in Urdu.

Death

She died on 11 December 2000, in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, at age 85.

Awards and recognition

In 2002,

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

posthumously gave her the highest civil award,

Nishan-i-Imtiaz The Nishan-e-Imtiaz (; ) is one of the state organized Civil decorations of Pakistan, civil decorations of Pakistan. It is awarded for achievements towards world recognition for Pakistan or outstanding service for the country. However, the awa ...

(Order of Excellence) award.President gives away civil, military awards
Dawn (newspaper), Published 24 March 2002, Retrieved 9 April 2019

References

External links

Find Articles: The London – Begum Shaista Ikramullah (29 March 2001)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikramullah, Shaista Suhrawardy 1915 births 2000 deaths Suhrawardy family Muhajir people All-India Muslim League politicians Ambassadors of Pakistan to Morocco Politicians from Kolkata Loreto College, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Writers from Karachi Politicians from Karachi 20th-century Pakistani women writers Alumni of SOAS University of London Pakistani people of Bengali descent Pakistani MNAs 1947–1954 Pakistani women ambassadors Recipients of Nishan-e-Imtiaz 20th-century Bengalis 20th-century Pakistani women politicians Civil servants from Karachi