profile
Dato’ Dr. Wazir Jahan
Begum Karim:
Champion of Women’s Rights
and Gender Equality
F
ew people are as smart, compassionate,
driven, and adventurous --- all at the
same time --- as Dr. Wazir Jahan Karim.
In Southeast Asia, where poverty and inequality
www.disted.edu.my
are rampant, Dr. Karim boldly, decisively and
enthusiastically, rolled up her sleeves and waded
waist-deep into the situation to fight for the rights
of the under-represented, underprivileged, and
under-appreciated communities of developing
Southeast Asian nations.
Preserving Muslim culinary heritage
The battle for equality has been fought for
centuries, as early as the 1700s. Past victories
include appointment of women in top clergy
positions among the Shakers (1788), balanced
received several notable accolades including
of Economics and Political Science, is an
the Raymond Firth Prize in 1977, the Rotary
economic anthropologist and a gender
Golden Medal for Most Outstanding
mostly in highly modernized areas in the West or
studies proponent. She is currently Executive
Scholar in the Social Sciences in 1999, and
in Western-influenced countries. In the Eastern
Chairman of Intersocietal and Scientific
Outstanding Woman Academician in Penang
hemisphere, particularly in underdeveloped Asian
(INAS), an agency committed to gender,
State in 2005. She is also very active as a
cities, women are viewed as they were when these
conservation, and heritage issues as well
visiting professor, a sought-after speaker,
civilizations first began.
as the Executive Director of the Academy
and distinguished fellow in several renowned
of Socio-Economic Research and Analysis
www.asean-life.com
Jahan, a graduate of the London School
more or less the same privileges as men, but
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An accomplished woman, Dr. Karim
suffrage in the U.S. (1920). Today, women share
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only gender issues but also poverty. Wazir
property rights in marriage (1882), and women
Dato’ Dr. Wazir Jahan Begum Karim is the Executive Chairman of Intersocietal
and Scientific (INAS), an agency committed to gender, conservation, and
heritage issues. Dato’ is a title conferred by the State Government of Malaysia.
Fortunately, Wazir Jahan Karim is wellequipped when it comes to battling not
universities worldwide, including the British
(ASERA), which promotes social equality in
Academy, University of Oslo, United Nations’
the developing world. She co-founded the
University, University of Victoria, and Sophia
Women’s Development Research Centre
University. When she’s not busy teaching
at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and heralded
or researching, she writes and co-authors
Gender Studies in rural Malaysia from 1978
books about minorities and women in
to 2001 at a time when not many thought
Southeast Asia, the absence of equality in
much of it, to improve the understanding
these communities, and striving for their
of, and methodologies related to, poverty,
empowerment while also giving the world a
She literally
“rolled up her sleeves
and waded waist-deep”,
for she lived their
way of life
women’s leadership, and midwifery, among
glimpse of their everyday lives. She carries
several other things.
the title of Dato’ --- having been conferred in
2007 the order of Darjah Setia Pingat Negeri
(Penang).
when not fighting
for the rights of women
and marginalized
societies, she is a
businesswoman and
connoisseur of Asian
heritage crafts
www.asean-life.com
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