Jahanara Shahnawaz

Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz (7 April 1896 – 27 November 1979) was a politician and Muslim League activist.[1] She was the daughter of Sir Muhammad Shafi.[2] Her husband was Mian Shah Nawaz. She studied at Queen Mary College, Lahore, British India.[2]

Jahanara Shahnawaz
Member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
In office
10 August 1947 – 24 October 1954
ConstituencyLahore District
Personal details
Born(1896-04-07)7 April 1896
Lahore, Punjab, British India
Died27 November 1979(1979-11-27) (aged 83)
Pakistan
Nationality Pakistani
SpouseMian Shah Nawaz
Parent
OccupationPolitician
Known forPakistan Movement

Political career

In 1918, Jahanara Shahnawaz successfully moved the All India Muslim Women's Conference to pass a resolution against polygamy.[2] In 1935, she founded the Punjab Provincial Women's Muslim League.[2] In the Round Table Conference of 1930, she and Radhabai Subbarayan were the only two active members of women's organisations nominated to the conference; they argued unsuccessfully for a 5 per cent reservation for women in the legislatures.[3]

In 1937, she was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Medical Relief and Public Health.[2] In 1938 she became a member of the Women's Central Subcommittee of the All India Muslim League.[2] In 1942 India's government appointed her as a member of the National Defense Council, but the Muslim League asked League members to resign from the Defense Council.[2] She refused and was thus removed from the Muslim League.[2] However, she rejoined the League in 1946, and in that same year was elected to the Central Constituent Assembly.[2] That year she also went along with M. A. Ispahani on a goodwill mission to America, to explain the point of view of the Muslim League.[2] She was arrested along with other Muslim League leaders during the Civil disobedience movement in Punjab in 1947.[2]

In 1948, she led a protest of thousands of women in the streets of Lahore, protesting against the fact that a bill encouraging better economic opportunities for women had been removed from the agenda.[4] Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan intervened, and the Muslim Personal Law of Shariat of 1948 was passed; it legally recognized a woman's right to inherit property, including agricultural land, which had not been recognized during the British Raj.[4]

She was president of the provincial branch of the All India Muslim Women's Conference for seven years, and also served as vice-president of the Central Committee of the All India Muslim Women's Conference.[2]

She was the first woman in Asia to preside over a legislative session.[5] She was also associated with the education and orphanage committees of the Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam, in Lahore, and with several hospitals, as well as maternity and child welfare committees.[2] She was a member of the All Indian General Committee of the Red Cross Society.[2]

Books

Jahanara Shahnawaz wrote a novel titled Husn Ara Begum and her memoirs titled Father and Daughter: a political autobiography.[6][7][8] She also wrote for women's and literary magazines.[6]

Death and legacy

Jahanara Shahnawaz died on 27 November 1979 at age 83.[2] She had three children: Ahmad Shahnawaz Sr., a chemical engineer and the first Indian to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Nasim Shahnawaz (Nasim Jahan), who married General Akbar Khan and later became a politician of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Mumtaz Shahnawaz, who died in a plane crash in 1948 while on her way to the United Nations General Assembly to represent Pakistan there.[5][9]

Jahanara Shahnawaz worked for the economic independence of Pakistan. She was of the view that the foreign policy of Pakistan should be based on trade among nations and not aid.[10]

See also

References
  1. Muneeza Shamsie (11 July 2015). And the World Changed: Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women. Feminist Press at The City University of New York. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-1-55861-931-9.
  2. "Profile of Begum Shah Nawaz". Storyofpakistan.com website. 1 June 2003. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  3. Partha S. Ghosh (23 May 2012). The Politics of Personal Law in South Asia: Identity, Nationalism and the Uniform Civil Code. Routledge. pp. 234–. ISBN 978-1-136-70512-0.
  4. Shireen Burki (22 August 2013). The Politics of State Intervention: Gender Politics in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. Lexington Books. pp. 22–. ISBN 978-0-7391-8433-2.
  5. "Pakistan Day: Women at the forefront". Dawn (newspaper). 21 March 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  6. "Most extensive website on the famous Begum Jahan Ara Shahnawaz with many historical Photographes and press clipping". Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  7. Father and Daughter: a political autobiography. Lahore: Nigarishat, 1971. Also: Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002 0195796462
  8. Cynthia Nelson; Shahnaz J. Rouse (2000). Situating Globalization: Views from Egypt. Transcript. p. 133 and 156. ISBN 978-3-933127-61-7.
  9. "Life & Times of Begum Shahnawaz". Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  10. "Economic freedom for Pakistan vital". Dawn. Pakistan. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
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