Begum Sufia Kamal

Begum Sufia Kamal was a Bengali poet and political activist. She was an influential cultural icon in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and 60s and an important civil society leader in independent Bangladesh. She died on 20 November 1999 and was the first woman to be given a state funeral in the country.

During her childhood, women's education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learned Bengali, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors. In 1925 she met Mahatma Gandhi, which inspired her to wear simple clothing. In 1931 she became the first Bengali Muslim female to be a member of the Indian Women Federation.