JINHA

NEWS CENTER - Shazia Parveen, a 25- year old woman, has successfully become Pakistan’s first and only female firefighter. Shazia said that she wanted to serve people.

Shazia Parvenu lives in a village in South Punjab. She is the first and only firefighter. Shania said that the firefighters she works with have been supportive.

“No woman had done it before and I wanted to prove it could be done,” Shazia said.

While she faces criticism from others she does not pay attention, citing the support of her family as a source of her strength.

Pakistan is a conservative and religious country where millions of women struggle for access to health care and education. A fact which opens Shazia to criticism as a woman doing a “man’s job,” but also lends her to certain advantages: “Women prefer to be rescued by women,” Shazia said. “They don’t want to be touched by men they don’t know.”

(mg/ea)