Khalida Zahir

Khalida Zahir (1927 – 2015) was a Sudanese physician and women's rights activist. She was born in Omdurman. She graduated from the Kitchener School of Medicine (at what is now the University of Khartoum) in 1952, along with Z Serkisiani, and together they were the first female doctors of medicine in Sudan. She founded the Young Women's Cultural Society with Fatima Talib in 1948. The first Sudanese women's organization, it provided education for women on health, reading and writing. She was also among the founders of the Sudanese Women’s Union in 1952, an organization which campaigned for suffrage and labour rights. Zahir went on to become head of paediatrics at the Sudanese ministry of health. She retired in 1986.