Zubeida Mustafa

Zubeida Mustafa
زبیدہ مصطفی
Silver-haired lady wearing a blue and white shawl holding a glass trophy; against the backdrop of IWMF logo
Mustafa in 2012
Born1941 (1941)
British India
Died (aged 84)
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
OccupationFreelance journalist
AwardsLifetime Achievement Award by the International Women's Media Foundation in 2012
* Women Leaders Award in 2020 by the President of Pakistan
* Global Media Award for Journalistic Excellence by the Population Institute in Washington D.C. for her research in population control (1986 and 2004)

Zubeida Mustafa (Urdu: زبیدہ مصطفی‎; 1941 – 9 July 2025) was a Pakistani freelance journalist who became one of the first women to work in the country's mainstream media, when she joined the Dawn newspaper in 1975.[1]

Early life

Born in British India, Mustafa moved to Pakistan with her family after the independence of Pakistan. She was married and had two daughters.[2]

Education

Mustafa completed her BA and then her MA in International Relations at the University of Karachi.[1] She also studied at the London School of Economics under a Commonwealth Scholarship.[2]

Career

Mustafa joined the Dawn newspaper's staff, Pakistan's leading English-language daily in July 1975 as assistant editor.[1][2] She was the only woman at Dawn at a senior-level position and also was the first woman writer in the mainstream media in Pakistan. During that time, she used her sex to her advantage and covered women's issues stories concerning health and human rights. She used her perspective as a woman to write editorials promoting international peace and pleading for social justice.[2]

As a female journalist, Mustafa stated that the injustices Pakistani women suffer "touches her deeply". According to a 2012 Newsline magazine profile, she mentioned how important it is for women to seize the opportunities given to them. Though women's issues were her main beat, she also focused on education, human empowerment, health and population. She stated that focusing on education was important since the root of problems in Pakistan was the country's failure to educate its citizens, especially to have awareness of health issues.[2]

According to Newsline, Mustafa considered longtime editor of Dawn newspaper, Ahmed Ali Khan, her mentor who taught her how to "bottle a river in a tumbler (darya ko koozay mein band karna) and how to look at a problem from the people's point of view and to never be unfair in one's writing".[2]

In 1986, Mustafa was awarded the Global Media Award for Excellence by The Population Institute in Washington D.C. for her research and writings on population control in Pakistan.[1][2]

In 2012, Mustafa was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Women's Media Foundation for her news coverage on women's issues, politics, education, and health and culture.[3][2] In 2013, the Women Media Center awarded her for her contributions to journalism in Pakistan.[4]

Mustafa was not very fond of the current or past Pakistani political leaders. According to her interview to Newsline in 2012, she observed that Pakistanis have "a bunch of power-hungry leaders who are not statesmen by any yardstick. They are selfish, corrupt and ignorant. They have no strategy to resolve the current crisis nor do they want to".[2]

Mustafa retired from her job as a journalist after 33 years of service in 2009 due to some personal health issues. In 2012, she was still facing some health issues including her failing eyesight. As of 2020, she continued to write her newspaper columns as a freelance journalist.[5][6][3]

Death

Mustafa died in Karachi on 9 July 2025, after a months-long struggle with illness. She was 84.[7][8][9][1][10]

Awards and recognition

Dawn Media Group has set up an award for women journalists in her name, the Zubeida Mustafa Award for Journalistic Excellence.[11][3]

Books

  • Mustafa, Zubeida (2008). My DAWN Years: Exploring Social Issues (her autobiography about changes she saw in the press in Pakistan over three decades)[11]
  • Mustafa, Zubeida (2021). Reforming School Education in Pakistan & the Language Dilemma. Paramount Books ISBN 978-969-210-234-6

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Profile of Zubeida Mustafa". International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) website. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rukhsana Mashhadi (June 2012). "Profile: Zubeida Mustafa". Newsline. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Kelly Kavanaugh (26 March 2013). "Introducing the Zubeida Mustafa Award for Journalistic Excellence". International Women's Media Foundation website. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Journalists should follow ethics at all costs: Zubaida". The Nation (newspaper). 27 February 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  5. ^ Rem Rieder (23 June 2014). "Rieder: A global platform for bold journalists". USA TODAY (newspaper). Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b Iqra Sarfaraz (25 March 2020). "CELEBRATING first Women Leaders Awards". The News International (newspaper). Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  7. ^ Zubeida Mustafa, trailblazing journalist and rights advocate, passes away at 84
  8. ^ "سیکڑوں صحافیوں کی استاد زبیدہ مصطفیٰ کراچی میں انتقال کر گئیں". jang.com.pk (in Urdu). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  9. ^ ڈیسک, ویب (9 July 2025). "ملک کی ویٹرن صحافی زبیدہ مصطفیٰ نہیں رہیں". WE News (in Urdu). Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  10. ^ "Veteran journalist Zubeida Mustafa passes away at 84". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  11. ^ a b c Muneeza Shamsie (14 March 2018). "Interview: Zubeida Mustafa". Newsline. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
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