Wiki Bio / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Dr. Faiza Shaheen is a British left-wing activist and economist. She was selected to be the Labour Party’s prospective parliamentary candidate for the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in the UK.
- Faiza writes and publishes materials covering contemporary social and economic debates, including inequality, immigration, and social mobility.
- She also regularly contributes to debates on popular news programs such as NewsNight and Channel 4 News. She has also worked with Channel 4 and the BBC to produce documentaries on the topic of inequality.
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Faiza was born in 1983 in Leytonstone, East London in a Muslim household.
- Her father was a car mechanic and grew up in Fiji. Shaheen’s mother was a lab technician. The two met in Pakistan while Shaheen’s father was “on the run from the police.”
- Faiza’s father was violent and would at times disappear for long periods. Shaheen says that her father made her develop her political consciousness. He taught her a lot about race.
- Her mother taught her the value of education and gave her the ambition to attend Oxford University.
- According to her, the visits she made to Pakistan made her aware of global inequalities.
Education : Qualifications, High School & College Info
- Faiza attended Chingford Foundation School. It is the same school, where popular footballers like David Beckham and Harry Kane have also studied.
- At St John’s College of Oxford University, Shaheen received her BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She claims that she was surprised by the amount of snobbery and racism she witnessed at Oxford University.
- Later, she received an MSc in Research Methods & Statistics and a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester. Her dissertation traced the evolving geography of poverty between 1971 and 2001 in the UK, where she mapped the economic, demographic and societal factors behind these trends.
Career, Income, Salary and Net Worth :
- Dr. Shaheen was the Head of Inequality and Sustainable Development at the nonprofit organisation Save the Children UK. There, she developed a global campaign on inequalities among children.
- She was also a Senior Researcher at the New Economics Foundation (NEF) focusing on economic inequality.
- In 2016, Faiza directed a political think tank called “CLASS” (Centre for Labour and Social Studies).
- In 2017, Faiza was dubbed the ‘Observer Rising Star’ in Campaigning. She was also nominated as “Asian Woman of the Year” and one of the “Top 100 Influencers on the Left”.
- Faiza was selected as Labour Party’s candidate for the seat of Chingford and Woodford Green constituency, which is currently held by Iain Duncan Smith. She won the selection contest with 85% of the vote.
Political Views and Aspirations :
- Faiza and her family have always voted Labour, but she was frustrated that the party was not bolder.
- She hopes to replace Ian Duncan Smith. She says that just talking about defeating him makes her smile.
- Even though she was once considered to be in the “crazy left,” she is happy to observe that she is now within the possibility of getting elected.
- In the 2016 Brexit referendum, she backed the ‘Remain’ group. Even though she agrees with the sentiments that the EU is an elite project and the European Central Bank does not act fairly, she still opposed Brexit, because the Brexit campaign was focused on immigration.