Two Pakistani women have been included into the BBC’s list of this year’s top 100 inspiring and influential women. The list highlights women who became trailblazers in their field and worked to spread awareness about issues like climate change, political instability and natural disasters. Among the list are famous Muslim figures like lawyer Amal Clooney, Pakistani Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Iraqi-American beauty mogul Huda Kattan.
The first Pakistani woman included in the list is Afroze-Numa, one of the last Wakkhi shepherdess who has taken care of goats, yack and sheep for over three decades.
“Having learnt the trade from her mother and grandmothers,” the BBC description reads, “she is part of a centuries-old tradition that is now dying out in Pakistan’s Shimla valley.”
“Every year these shepherdesses take their flocks to pastures 4,800m (16,000ft) above sea level, where they prepare dairy products to barter, while their animals feed.
Their income has brought the village prosperity and allowed them to provide an education for their children. Afroze-Numa still fondly remembers being the first woman in the valley to own a pair of shoes.”
The second Pakistani woman included in the list is Neha Mankani, a midwife who travelled to flood-affected areas in order to provide life-saving birthing kits and midwifery care to mothers and their babies.
“Her typical practice focuses on low-resourced settings, emergency response and climate-affected communities,” the BBC said, adding that Mama Baby Fund has now raised enough money to launch a boat ambulance that will transport pregnant women living in coastal communities to nearby hospitals and clinics for urgent treatment.
Taking to Instagram to share the post, Mankani wrote she was honoured to receive the acknowledgement from BBC.
“Really honoured to be on the @bbc100women list this year as a climate hero, celebrating the important role of midwives in climate emergencies and highlighting my work with @mamababyfund in last year’s floods and in the climate affected island communities of Karachi. Head over to @bbc100women to read about all the really amazing women highlighted this year”
