DEVOTION AND DEFIANCE

A vivid, inspirational story of an ordinary woman and mother who rose to become the foremost advocate for women’s rights in Pakistan (the lack thereof across the subcontinent, sadly, being much in the news of late)—and dubbed, “the most unmanageable woman in Pakistan.”

Sustained by her fierce dedication as she mourned the early death of her husband, which left her to raise three young children alone, Humaira Shahid provides a human face for the trials and hopes of women in patriarchal and religiously conservative societies around the world. In nearly novelistic fashion, she chronicles her own extraordinarily charming love story, affectionately recalling the headstrong girl whose main passion is for 19th century English literature, and the patient, romantic man who woos and wins her to be his wife, and ultimately also his partner in journalism. Beginning with her overhaul of the “women’s pages” and then management of a hotline at The Daily Khabrain, she met victims of gang rape, honor killings, and acid attacks, and vowed to help them. Later elected to the Punjab Parliament, she developed legislation to combat abuses of women, girls, and the poor, introducing bills about forced marriage, predatory money lending, and acid burning. Humaira Awais Shahid’s extraordinarily warm and passionate voice provides remarkable insight into how Islamic values and ethics might yet be a vehicle for progressive change in the developing world. Humaira Awais Shahid is a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab. She was a 2009-2010 Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and recently received an honorary doctorate from Bowdoin College, where she delivered the 2012 Baccalaureate address.