Nighat Dad
Nighat Dad is the Executive Director of the Digital Rights Foundation working on the digital rights discourse in Pakistan along with cyber harassment, harassment, data protection and free speech online. She identifies as a feminist and works to empower women through the use of ICTs. Nighat is one of the pioneer women’s rights activists in Pakistan in the 21st century, especially in the context of defining the cyberspace narrative in Pakistan and has been at the forefront of the feminist movement in the country. A lawyer by profession, Nighat has also been listed as the TIME’s magazine Next Generation leader back in 2015. She has bagged an array of prestigious awards along the way, including the Human Rights Tulip Award in 2016. Nighat is also a TED Global Fellow since 2017 and has been creating awareness regarding the patriarchal strongholds in Pakistan, how deep rooted they are and how being a woman in this setting has affected her activism. She was nominated as Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum in 2018 and very recently listed among the 21 Young Leaders from Asia 2019 class by Asia Society.