Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah

Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah (Bengali: জেবুন্নেসা হামিদুল্লাহ, Urdu: زیب النساء حمیداللہ; 25 December 1918 – 10 September 2000) was a Pakistani writer and journalist. She was a pioneer of Pakistani literature and journalism in English, and also a pioneer of feminism in Pakistan. She was Pakistan’s first female editor and publisher, and the country’s first female columnist writing in English. Zaibunnisa Street in Karachi was named after her.
Before independence in 1947, she wrote for many Indian newspapers, and was the first Muslim woman to write a column in an Indian newspaper. After independence, her column in the newspaper Dawn made her the first female political commentator in Pakistan. After she left Dawn, she became the founder and editor-publisher of the Mirror, the first social glossy magazine in Pakistan. Due to her status as Pakistan’s first female editor, she became the first woman to be included in press delegations sent to other countries. On one of these delegations, in 1955, she became the first woman to speak at the ancient al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. She also repeatedly represented Pakistan at the United Nations, including by serving as the deputy chief of the Pakistani delegation to the special 1970 session.