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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

YWCA Toronto woman of distinction 2008, communications

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has built a life of firsts. She was the first in her family to go to university, one of the first Muslim women to be broadcast on mainstream western media, and frequently the first in the lines of danger to bring the world the hidden stories of women facing persecution around the world. From the disappearances of Aboriginal women on Highway 16 in western Canada, to the furtive existence of being a woman in post 9/11 Afghanistan, to the plight of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, Sharmeen documents stories that seldom get told.

She appears fearless in the face of great menace wherever it is found blocking access to truth. Her film "Reinventing the Taliban" serves as metaphor for her approach. In one scene her voice rises bravely above the threatening din of angry men who, surround her and discover that she is as a woman filming from behind a disguise. They threaten her life while she stands steady with the camera in hand. CNN International, Channel 4 (UK), PBS, Al Jezeera International and the New York Times Television have all benefited from her passionate eye. Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Sharmeen makes her home in Canada, where she has mentored young journalists with her rare blend of an activist's devotion to justice and a journalist's commitment to The Story.

For Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, journalism is not simply a career, it is a calling. Armed with the makings of a promising academic career (a Bachelor's degree from Smith, and two Master's degrees from Stanford), Sharmeen instead chose to walk into the thick of a heated political moment in world history, armed with little more than her intellect, her courage and her conviction that something new could be said. As the world-altering events of September 11, 2001 unfolded, Sharmeen decided that it was time for a Muslim woman to take to the networks. The United States was in the grips of a lock-down over an attack by The Muslim World. There were no Muslim women on any of the major news outlets. To Sharmeen, with no journalistic experience, the time seemed perfect. After having her proposal to produce a documentary on the effects of 9/11 on the children of Afghanistan rejected by over 80 outlets, she wrote to the president of New York Times Television, requesting time to make her pitch. She was hired on the spot, not only winning awards for this documentary but launching a unique career.

Defying journalistic tradition, Sharmeen takes a personal interest in the lives of those whose stories she tells. In 2006, while reporting from British Columbia on the fate of missing Aboriginal women on Highway 16, she wanted Canadians to understand the horrors faced by Aboriginal women and their families. She supported vigils in local neighbourhoods, she took the issue to the print media, advocated with the RCMP and involved the entire community in dialogue. In her work with widows in Kabul, her advocacy on behalf of women denied contraception in the Philippines, her guerilla film-making on the treatment of refugees from Zimbabwe at the hands of South African farmers, when Sharmeen's job as a film maker is over, her role as a humanitarian continues.

Broadcast widely, and published in such print outlets as the Globe and Mail and the New York Times, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was one of the first Muslim women working in prime time American and British television. Her ground-breaking work has attracted many young women of colour — from rural Nigeria to the projects of the urban U.S. — to pursue their dreams of breaking into mainstream media. Two-time winner of the American Women in Radio and Television Award, One World Media award winner (UK), and recipient of the Livingston Award in New York, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's work is living testimony to the power of communication to build solidarity and fight abuse of power. YWCA Toronto is proud to welcome her as a Woman of Distinction.

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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy - 2008 Woman of Distinction, Communications

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