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Zerbanoo Gifford

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Zerbanoo Gifford
Born (1950-05-11) 11 May 1950 (age 74)
India
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)writer, human rights campaigner

Zerbanoo Gifford is a British writer and human rights campaigner. She is president of the World Zoroastrian Organisation. She founded the ASHA foundation and centre, a charity working for the enrichment of young adults, ethical leadership, social innovation, sustainable living, intercultural and interfaith understanding, and the performing arts.

Charitable work

Gifford is a philathropist and holds the International Woman of the Year Award 2006 for her humanitarian work, which spans over 50 years of grassroots and global activism. She has been a director of Anti-Slavery International[1] and of the Charities Aid Foundation.[2]: 125  She is founder of the ASHA Foundation and the ASHA Centre in the Forest of Dean.[3]

Politics

In 1982 Gifford made history by being elected as a councillor for Harrow,[4]: 378 [5] the first female Asian councillor to be elected for the Liberal Party.[2]: 125  She has stood three times for Parliament,[2]: 125 [6] Hertsmere in 1983 (Liberal/SDP Alliance) and 1992 (Liberal Democrat), and Harrow East (Liberal/SDP Alliance) in 1987. By standing in 1983, she became one of the first three Asian women to stand for Parliament along with Rita Austin (Labour, St Albans) and Pramila Le Hunte (Conservative, Birmingham Ladywood).[7]

In 1986 she chaired the Liberal "Commission of Inquiry into Ethnic Minority Involvement in the Liberal Party".[2]: 125  Gifford was twice elected by the party's membership the Liberal Democrats' Federal Executive, the first ethnic minority person to be elected to a major UK party's supreme body.[8] She was a member of the Race Relations Forum set up in 1998 by then Home Secretary, Jack Straw.[9]

In 1992 Gifford co-chaired the centenary celebrations for the election of the first non-white MP, Dadabhai Naoroji.[10]

Recognition

Gifford received the Nehru Centenary Award in 1989. She was nominated for the Women of Europe Award in 1991.[2]: 125  She was awarded the Freedom of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, USA for combating modern slavery and racism. In 2007, Zerbanoo received the International Splendor award in Hollywood, for her lifetime achievements in the field of equality and human rights. In 2010, to celebrate the 90th anniversery of American Suffrage she was honoured by the Sewall-Belmont museum in Washington DC in an exhibition commemorating key global women who have advanced women's rights. A biography of her by New-Zealand editor Farida Master, Zerbanoo Gifford: An Uncensored Life, was published in 2015 by Harper Collins.[11] Gifford was one of the seven former pupils who featured in Roedean school's 125 anniversary celebrations.[12]

Publications

At the launch of her book The Golden Thread

Gifford's written works include:

  • The Golden Thread: Asian Experiences of Post-Raj Britain, 1990[13]
  • Dadabhai Naoroji, Britain's First Asian MP, 1992[14]
  • The Asian Presence in Europe, 1995[15]
  • Thomas Clarkson and the Campaign against Slavery, 1996[16]
  • Foreword to Race and British Electoral Politics, 1998[17]
  • Celebrating India, 1998
  • South Asian Funding in the UK, 1999[18]
  • Confessions to a Serial Womaniser: Secrets of the World's Inspirational Women, 2007[19]
  • Z to A of Zoroastrianism 2022: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living, 2022

References

  1. ^ Today with Sean O'Rourke. 26 October 2017. RTÉ. Radio 1.
  2. ^ a b c d e Alison Donnell (2002). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780203194997.
  3. ^ Baroness Royall of Blaisdon. "Minority Ethnic and Religious Communities: Cultural and Economic Contribution". Hansard.
  4. ^ John R. Hinnells (2005). The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198267592.
  5. ^ Saggar, Shamit (1998). Race and British Electoral Politics. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1857288292.
  6. ^ British Parliamentary Election results 1983–97. David Boothroyd. Accessed April 2016.
  7. ^ FitzGerald, Marian (1984). Political parties and Black people: participation, representation, and exploitation. London: Runnymede Trust.
  8. ^ Saggar, Shamit (1998). Race and British Electoral Politics. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1857288292.
  9. ^ [Home Office] (1998). Race Relations Forum. London: Home Office. Archived 16 February 2006.
  10. ^ Steel, David; Ashdown, Paddy (1992). Dadabhai Naoroji Parliamentary Centenary Celebrations. London. Mss Eur F279/10.
  11. ^ Farida Master (2015). Zerbanoo Gifford: An Uncensored Life. Uttar Pradesh, India: Harpercollins Publishers India. ISBN 9789351776369
  12. ^ "Sussex Life". Roedean at 125. 26 November 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  13. ^ Zerbanoo Gifford (1990). The Golden Thread: Asian Experiences of Post-Raj Britain. London: Pandora Press. ISBN 9780044406051.
  14. ^ Zerbanoo Gifford, Petra Röhr-Rouendaal (illustrator) (1992). Dadabhai Naoroji: Britain's First Asian M.P. London: Mantra. ISBN 9781852691417.
  15. ^ Zerbanoo Gifford (1995). Asian Presence in Europe. London: Mantra. ISBN 9781852691851.
  16. ^ Zerbanoo Gifford (1996). Thomas Clarkson and the Campaign against Slavery. London: Anti-Slavery International. ISBN 9780900918360.
  17. ^ Shamit Saggar (editor) (1998). Race and British Electoral Politics. London [u.a.]: UCL Press. ISBN 9781857288308. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  18. ^ Karina Holly with Zerbanoo Gifford (1999). South Asian Funding in the UK. London: Directory of Social Change. ISBN 9781900360333.
  19. ^ Zerbanoo Gifford (2007). Confessions to a Serial Womaniser: Secrets of the World's Inspirational Women. East Grinstead: Blacker Limited in conjunction with Phact Publishing. ISBN 978-1897739310.
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