Shahnaz Bukhari (or Bokhari) is a Pakistani clinical psychologist and women's rights activist. She is founder and director of the

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

, Progressive Women's Association (PWA), which documents and opposes

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

Education and work

She holds a Master's of Science from Punjab University,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. After graduation, she worked as a family counselor in Saudi Arabia for seven years. On returning to Pakistan in 1984, Bukhari observed that there were no services for victims of violence and resolved to fill the void. She founded the Progressive Women's Association (PWA) the following year, an organization to help female victims of social and domestic violence. In 1994, the PWA also began taking on cases of acid and burn victims. She also edits and publishes the magazine ''Women's World''. The same year, the PWA successfully lobbied Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

to have all-female police stations established. In 1999, Bukhari converted her family home in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

into AASSRA, Pakistan's first shelter home for battered women with children. Bukhari and the Progressive Women's Association have uncovered over 5,675 stove-death victims as part of the 16,000 cases they have documented of violence against women. From 1994 to 2008, the PWA documented 7,800 cases of acid attacks in the

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

area. In 2001, Bukhari was arrested for "abetting an attempt to commit adultery" after sheltering a woman from an abusive husband at AASSRA. She was cleared of the charges two years later. According to Bukhari, she and her family have also received numerous threats as well as subject to frequent police raids.

Personal life

She is the single parent of two sons and two daughters, the eldest of which serves as her chief assistant. Her former husband lives in the United States.

Awards and recognitions

Bukhari won the

Civil Courage Prize The Civil Courage Prize is a human rights award which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk—rather than military valor." The prize was founded in 2000 by the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The goal of the prize is not to cr ...

of the US-based

Train Foundation John Pell Coster Train (May 25, 1928 – August 13, 2022) was an American investment advisor and writer. He was a founding editor of ''The Paris Review''. Early life Train was born on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Helen Coster Gerard and ...

in 2003, awarded for "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk — rather than military valor." One year later,

Women's eNews ''Women's eNews'' is a nonprofit online news service based in New York City. It was founded by the late Rita Jensen. Lori Sokol, PhD, now leads the organization, assuming the title of Executive Director since July, 2016. Women's eNews publishes inte ...

named her one of "21 Leaders for the 21st Century". She is also recipient of Weimar human rights award 2001.

References

External links

Progressive Women's Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukhari, Shahnaz Living people Pakistani human rights activists Pakistani women's rights activists Pakistani psychologists Pakistani women psychologists Pakistani civil rights activists Muslim reformers People from Rawalpindi University of the Punjab alumni Year of birth missing (living people)