Shireen Lateef

Shireen Rexina Lateef was a Fijian women's rights activist, known for her work on gender equality at the Asian Development Bank.

Biography

Shireen Lateef was born in Fiji^[1] and was of Indo-Fijian descent.^[2][3] After studying at St. Joseph's Secondary School in Fiji, she traveled to Australia to pursue higher education.^[4] She attended Monash University, graduating with a Ph.D. in social anthropology and education, which included significant fieldwork among Indo-Fijian women in the Fijian capital, Suva.^[2][4] She then spent nine years as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne.^[4]

Lateef was a longtime gender equality activist, considered an inspiration behind the feminist movement in Fiji.^[1][5][6] In 1990, while at Melbourne, she published "Rule by the Danda: Domestic Violence Among Indo-Fijians," which is considered one of the earliest studies of domestic violence in Fiji and a seminal work of feminist research in the country.^[5][7]

In 1992, she began working as a junior gender specialist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila.^[4][5][6][8] Among her work at the ADB, she is best known as the architect of the bank's Policy on Gender and Development, which guided its efforts to support equality for women.^[6][9] Over 23 years at the bank, she pushed for the organization to recognize how development projects can impact women in often overlooked ways.^[4]

Lateef retired from the ADB in 2015, having reached the title of senior adviser on gender.^[4][6] She died the following year on February 11 in Brisbane, Australia, after a long illness.^[1][5][6]