Shireen Ahmed is a writer, public speaker, and award-winning sports activist focusing on
Muslim women in sports, as well as the intersections of racism and misogyny in sports.
Work
Ahmed is well-known in the
women in sports
The participation of women and girls in sports, physical Physical fitness, fitness and exercise, has been recorded to have existed throughout history. However, participation rates and activities vary in accordance with nation, era, geography, ...
industry, a frequent commentator around intersectionality and freedom of identity practice within sports. In an interview with ''
The McGill Daily
''The McGill Daily'' is an independent student newspaper at McGill University and is entirely run by students. Despite its name, the ''Daily'' has reduced its print publication to once a week, normally on Mondays, in addition to producing online-o ...
'', Ahmed explained what being a sports activist was:
Ahmed actively engages with media producers in mainstream and alternative groups. In one example, Ahmed responded to a documentary film about a
women's soccer team in
Zanzibar. In an interview with researchers for the study, "Radical Sports Journalism?: Reflections on 'Alternative' Approaches to Covering Sport-Related Social Issues," Ahmed explained, "The title of the movie was 'From Veils to Cleats.' I emailed them through Facebook. I didn't call them out. Basically, I said, when you use that title you're saying you can be either veiled or unveiled – that's it…If those women decide to take off their veils while they're playing that's their choice as long as they have a safe space to do it, but a lot of the women on that team don't unveil while they play so what are you actually saying here? So, they changed the title of their movie, which I felt was huge."
She is part of the weekly podcast, ''Burn It All Down'', the first feminist sports podcast to analyze sports culture from an
intersectional feminist lens.
Her co-hosts are
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...
History Professor
Brenda Elsey
Brenda Elsey is an American historian commonly known for researching about topics of History of Latin America such as politics, football or gender roles. Since 2008, she has been the co-director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program ...
, author and sportswriter Jessica Luther, Lindsay Gibbs of
ThinkProgress, and
Penn State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...
Professor of History and Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies Amira Rose Davis.
They have interviewed guests like ESPN's
Jemele Hill
Jemele Juanita Hill (; born 1975) is an American sports journalist who writes for ''The Atlantic''. She worked nearly 12 years for sports conglomerate ESPN. She wrote a column for ESPN.com's Page 2 and formerly hosted ESPN's '' His and Hers''. ...
, legendary sportscaster
Andrea Kremer
Andrea Kremer (born February 25, 1959) is a multi-Emmy Award-winning American television sports journalist. She currently calls ''Thursday Night Football'' games for Amazon Prime Video making sports history, along with Hannah Storm, by becoming ...
,
WNBA's
Layshia Clarendon and
Essence Carson, and Brazilian soccer legends
Sissi and
Tafa
Tafa is a Local Government Area in Niger State, Nigeria, adjoining the Federal Capital Territory. Its headquarters is in the town of Wuse.
It has an area of 222 km and a population of 83,544 at the 2006 census.
The postal code
A pos ...
.
Personal life
Ahmed was born to Pakistani parents in Halifax, Canada. She attended the
University of Toronto in Canada, and played soccer during college.
Ahmed now lives in Toronto, Canada with her family.
Honors and awards
Ahmed received the 2018 Naiem Malik Memorial Award for her advocacy work around Muslim women in sports. She was also named to the Muslim Women in Sports Powerlist in 2018 and 2019.
References
External links
*David Zirin
From the NBA Finals to the Women’s World Cup ''The Nation'',
Voices of the Game: Shireen Ahmed is a powerful advocate for women of color in sports ''Raw Charge'', July 30, 2018
Personal Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Shireen
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Canadian women journalists
Canadian sportswomen
Canadian women podcasters
Canadian podcasters
Canadian women activists
Canadian people of Pakistani descent