Afghan Biographies

Pakzad, Suraya


Name Pakzad, Suraya
Ethnic backgr. Tajik
Date of birth 1968
Function/Grade Voice of Women Organisation (VWO)
History and Biodata

3. Biodata:
pakzad_surayaSuraya Pakzad was born 1968 in Herat, Afghanistan. Pakzad, who has 15 brothers and sisters (all of whom have the same father), said girls in her family received the same educational opportunities as boys. Pakzad married at the age of 14 o a man 13 years her senior. Two years after finishing high school and starting a family, she moved to Kabul with her husband and children to enroll in college. "I got married when I was in the 10th grade," she said. "It was normal at the time. The security wasn't good, so everyone tries to marry their daughters with a good man, to save them from being in the hands of the militias and the warlords. I've been lucky enough to have a supportive husband who really believes in women's rights. He helped me continue my education, even though it was difficult being a married woman -- when I graduated high school, I already had two daughters." Despite the challenges of balancing school and married life, Pakzad received a degree from Kabul University in 1990.

In 1998, following the rise to power of the Taliban, Pakzad founded the Voice of Women Organisation (VWO) in Kabul to secretly educate girls who were forbidden from attending school by the Taliban' repressive interpretation of Islamic law. The year 2001 was momentous for Pakzad, for VWO and for Afghanistan. The Taliban fell and VWO was named an official NGO. That meant more money, more services and more impact. In 2002, VWO officially registered with the Afghan government.

With money from the British Embassy, the organization embarked on its first project in a post-Taliban Afghanistan: training women in English and computers. In addition to its vocational and educational projects, VWO also helped develop Afghanistan's constitution. In 2004, VWO shifted its headquarters from Kabul to the more conservative Herat Province. Kabul was a hub for NGOs and received international media attention, but no one was paying attention to the women of Herat, where Pakzad grew up. Few women attended university in Herat, and the NGOs based there were male-dominated. In 2003, the number of self-immolation incidents (where women committed suicide by lighting themselves on fire) in Herat totaled a staggering 384.

Six years later, women now make up 50 percent of the university in Herat and are also prominently represented in Herat's media. Self-immolation cases in the region decreased to 75 in 2008, which Pakzad credits to a targeted VWO initiative. TIME Magazine has recognized Afghan women’s rights advocate Ms. Suraya Pakzad as one of its top 100 people in 2009. The U.S. State Department honoured Ms. Pakzad with the “Women of Courage” award in 2008. She recently received the National Medal (Malali Medal) from the President of Afghanistan. She has been awarded with an honorary Associate of Arts degree by the Burlington Country College, New Jersey, Philadelphia, USA in March, 2010. On September 2010, 23, she has received a Global Citizen award from the Clinton Global Initiative.

Pakzad is a mother of six children, three daughters and three sons, the eldest 22 yrs.)

She speaks Dari and English.

Offices Voice of Women Organisation (VWO):
Herat, Afghanistan Across Masjidul Reza, Badmorghan, district 4th Phone: 0093 (0)40226061 Mobile: 0093 (0)700298732, 799209386
Ghor, Afghanistan Taimani Road, across Public Health Department, Chagcharan city Mobile: 0093 (0)703835916, 798406143
Badghis, Afghanistan Jadai Janubi Masjid Jami, Bazaar Kundilan, Qala Naw city Mobile: 0093 (0)799543352
Farah, Afghanistan Behind Canal, Masjid Qazi St. Farah city Mobile: 0093 (0)797853475
Adelaide, Australia 80 South Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000 Phone: 0061 (08) 8110 8104 Fax: 0061 (08) 8110 8101101
New Jersey, USA 707 Smithville Road, Lumberton, NJ 08048 Phone: 001 (800) 755 2693 Fax: 001 (609) 267 8855

Last Modified 2011-04-30
Established 2010-09-18