Khalida Zahir

Khalida Zahir, also spelled Khalda Zahir, was one of the first female Sudanese doctors and women's rights activist.

Childhood and education

Zahir was born to Zahir Alsadati in Omdurman, she as the oldest daughter in her family. She graduated from the Kitchener School of Medicine, at what later became the University of Khartoum, in 1952, along with Z Serkisiani.

Khalida and Serkisiani were the first female doctors of medicine in Sudan.
Khalida treated poor people free of charge in her clinic. She became head of paediatrics at the Sudanese Ministry of Health. She retired in 1986.

Khalida was the first female member of the student union in 1947 and she joined the peace negotiations in relation to southern Sudan the same year. Khalida was one of the few women who joined a political party in the 1940s. 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 among the founders of the Sudanese Women's Union in 1952, an organization which campaigned for suffrage and labour rights. Khalida was elected president of SWU in 1958.

Khalida died 9 June 2015.