FEMINISM IN ACTION

Dubai-based feminist publisher Sabin Muzaffar is documenting female trailblazers and empowering women and girls globally through her digital platform Ananke

Sabin Muzaffar had been work-ing as a journalist for over 15 years in the UAE when it struck her that all of the ‘movers and shakers’ of the corporate world whom she had been interviewing were men. “It just hit me that we need to have a platform digitally documenting female trailblazers – and not just those already in the news, but also the unsung heroes, who have their heads down and are busy working with no time to celebrate themselves or are too humble to do so,” says the Dubai-based media entrepreneur.

That’s how, in 2014, the digital magazine and platform Ananke came to be. “Ananke is the Greek goddess of inevitability. The website anankemag.com has a wealth of content in the form of interviews, articles, research papers, news stories, trailblazer profiles and more. We cover everything from sustainability, development, technology, finance, gender equality, education, culture – everything under a gender lens,” says Sabin, who is a UN Women’s Empower Women Mentor and Cherie Blair Foundation Mentor.

Born and raised in her “beloved, hustling bustling city of Karachi”, Sabin was greatly influenced by her father, a writer, economist and poet. “My grandfather was a friend of the late Subcontinent poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who also solemnised my father’s nikah. He was someone obviously much talked about at our home apart from other danishwar (literati) like Kishwar Naheed, Razia Bhatti, Fehmida Riyaz and of course Habib Jalib. The last two were friends of my father. These were people who fervently spoke or wrote about human rights, politics and social justice. So, I guess the seeds were sown right from the very beginning,” shares Sabin.