Major General Shahida Badshah

The status of Pakistani women varies considerably across classes, regions, and the rural/urban divide due to uneven socioeconomic development and the impact of tribal, feudal, and capitalist social formations on women's lives. The Pakistani women of today enjoy a better status than most women across the globe and have continued to play a very important role.

Pakistan is the only Islamic country to have women major generals. Most women in the Pakistan army are limited to medical and educational work though the force recently opened up combat positions to them.

One such example is former principal of the Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Major General Shahida Badshah, a top officer in the Pakistan Army is in the running to become the country’s first woman three-star general later this year.

She is expected to be promoted when five lieutenant generals will retire later this year. Shahida Badshah will replace the outgoing Surgeon General Lt Gen Rehan Burney as he is scheduled to retire along with four other three-star generals in October.

Shahida Badsha did her MBBS from Khyber Medical College in 1977. She is the second female general of Pakistan Army, after Shahida Malik, and first female commandant of Army Medical College.