Farida Shaheed

Work

Shaheed has over 25 years of research and activist experience, using a gender and feminist lens on issues of rural development, labour, culture, religion and the state. She has particularly focused on promoting and protecting cultural rights through policies and projects for marginalised communities, including women, the impoverished, religious and ethnic minorities. Shaheed is also an expert in international, regional and national negotiations, including within the United Nations and Pakistan.

Shaheed is a founding member of the Pakistan women's rights network, Women's Action Forum (WAF) and a member of the transnational feminist network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). She served as United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights from 2009 to 2015, when the role was taken over by Karima Bennoune. In August 2022 she was appointed Special Rapporteur on the right to education.