Celebrating Pakistani 'Women Who Matter'

The Pakistani edition of "Newsweek" has put together a list of the "100 Women Who Matter" for 2012 to celebrate the female "entrepreneurs, social workers, entertainers, politicians, peacekeepers" who have made a difference this past year in Pakistan.

Included are world-renowned figures such as Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary "Saving Face" about acid attacks on women in her country, and Sherry Rehman, the former information minister who has taken on the high-profile hot-seat post of ambassador to Washington.

Also on the list are Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old who stood up to the Taliban in Swat for girls' education and received Pakistan's National Peace Award for Youth; Mukhtar Mai, who fought for justice after she was ordered gang-raped by a village council to punish her 12-year-old brother; as well as artist Seher Shah, whose approach to architecture has won her international acclaim.

Less well-known to the wider world are women such as Amina Janjua, whose Defense of Human Rights Pakistan group has led efforts to find information on Pakistanis who have been "disappeared," including her husband.

And under the "Comeback Queens" heading is Mishi Khan, a well-known actress who has reemerged to join the cast of the Pakistani version of Sesame Street, Sim Sim Hamara.