Faiza Shaheen

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Faiza Shaheen
Faiza Shaheen
Born1982 or 1983 (age 41–42)[1]
Whipps Cross,[2] Leytonstone, London, England
EducationChingford Church of England Primary School
Chingford Foundation School
Sir George Monoux College
Alma materSt John's College, Oxford
University of Manchester
OccupationEconomist
Political partyLabour
SpouseAkin Gazi
Children1
WebsiteFaiza Shaheen

Faiza Shaheen (born 1982/1983) is a British academic and

Chingford and Woodford Green
. In 2023, her first book, Know Your Place, was published.

Early life and education

Shaheen was born in Whipps Cross University Hospital, Leytonstone,[2] and grew up in Chingford, in East London.[3] Her father was a car mechanic originally from Fiji and her mother was a laboratory technician from Pakistan, where they met.[1][4][5] She has a brother and a sister.[5]

She attended Chingford Church of England Primary School,[6] Chingford Foundation School and Sir George Monoux College.[7] Her first job was at Greggs the bakers in Chingford Mount.[2] After reading

St John's College, Oxford University,[4] Shaheen studied at the University of Manchester, being awarded an MSc in Research Methods & Statistics and a PhD.[8]

Career

Shaheen first worked at the Centre for Urban Policy Studies, University of Manchester. In 2007, she joined the urban policy research charity, Centre for Cities.[9] In 2009, she became senior researcher on economic inequality at the New Economics Foundation.

In 2014, she was appointed head of Inequality and Sustainable Development at the charity Save the Children UK.[8] From 2016, she was director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS), a policy think tank originating from the trade union movement.[10][11][12]

From 2021-23, Shaheen was the Inequality and Exclusion Program Director at the Center on International Cooperation, New York University. She is a visiting professor in practice at the International Inequalities Institute of the London School of Economics where she teaches the Masters course on inequality.[13][14][12]

Shaheen is a regular contributor to debates on television news programmes, including Newsnight and Channel 4 News, and has worked with Channel 4 and the BBC to develop documentaries on inequality.[15][16] In 2021, she participated with Adam Rutherford in a discussion on inequality and racism on Al Jazeera English.[17]

In 2023, Shaheen's first book, Know Your Place, on social inequality in the UK, was published by

Simon and Schuster. Shaheen wrote the book during evenings and weekends while working full-time at the LSE.[18][19]

Parliamentary candidacies

Shaheen is a longtime Labour voter and says she has been politicised from an early age. She joined the Labour Party after

2015.[5] In 2017, The Guardian identified her as a "rising star"[1] and she was nominated for Woman of the Year at the Asian Achievers Awards and named one of the Top 100 Influencers on the Left by LBC broadcaster, Iain Dale.[20][21][22] According to one newspaper, she has been compared to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.[23]

Shaheen was selected to be the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party for Chingford and Woodford Green in July 2018.[24][4][25] She has stated that her motivation for standing was the stress her own and other families had suffered as a result of welfare reforms instituted by the constituency’s longstanding Conservative incumbent, Iain Duncan Smith,[4][26] during his time as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. In the 2019 general election, Shaheen increased Labour’s vote, contrary to the national trend, and garnered the party’s largest ever vote share in the constituency, but lost by a narrow margin.[27] In July 2022, Shaheen was selected to contest the seat again for the Labour Party at the next United Kingdom general election.[28]

Political positions

Shaheen supports universal childcare, free school meals for primary school children, increased funding for the state education sector including investment in special needs provision and child mental health support, the abolition of university tuition fees, improved local transport links, and the restoration of neighbourhood policing with additional police officers and PCSO’s.[29] Shaheen has been vocal on the urgency of the need to rebuild the local Whipps Cross Hospital and to expand the NHS workforce to reduce waiting lists and improve provision.[29] 

Shaheen advocates action on the climate crisis, supporting efforts to increase investment in greening the UK’s economy and boosting renewable energy.[29] She has been reported as thanking those who toppled the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th century slave trader in Bristol, during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.[30] Shaheen has voiced her objection to the division sown by rightwing weaponisation of the white working class as a separate racial category, stating: "Since when did the working class become white? It's a mythology. It’s as if you’re not allowed to be working class if you’re brown or black... "[18]

Know Your Place

Shaheen’s first book, Know Your Place, is part memoir, part polemic. Shaheen describes the work as “a personal and statistical look at how society and the economy are structured, what really defines your life chances and how our current system keeps us locked into an ugly hierarchy.” Supported by copious statistics, Shaheen delves into factors from inherited wealth to class, race, and education to argue that social mobility is “a fairytale” propagated by those with wealth and power as a means to protect their status and privilege.[7]

Personal life

Shaheen is married to the actor Akin Gazi.[23] They have one son[31] and live in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency.[32]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c Roberts, Yvonne (1 January 2017). "Rising stars of 2017: campaigner Faiza Shaheen". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Shaheen, Faiza. "Home". Faiza for Chingford and Woodford Green. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  3. ^ Berrill, Lewis (26 November 2019). "Candidates clash at Chingford and Woodford Green election hustings". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. East London. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Faiza Shaheen: 'I Feel A Duty To My Country To Take Iain Duncan Smith Out'". HuffPost UK. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Eaton, George (8 August 2018). "The Chingford Corbynite: Faiza Shaheen on her mission to oust Iain Duncan Smith". New Statesman.
  6. ^ Langton, Kaisha (2 February 2019). "Labour candidate for the Chingford and Woodford Green MP speaks out about why she thinks she is right for the job". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. East London. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1398505377
    .
  8. ^ a b "Dr Faiza Shaheen". Shelter. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Faiza Shaheen". Centre for Cities. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  10. ^ "About". Centre for Labour and Social Studies. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  11. ^ "POLITICO London Influence: A tweak is a long time — Labour in comms — Wedding hells". Politico. 25 February 2021.
  12. ^ a b Faiza Shaheen on LinkedIn Edit this at Wikidata
  13. ^ "Faiza Shaheen". New York University. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Dr Faiza Shaheen". London School of Economics. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  15. ^ "Economic Research Council". Economic Research Council England. 16 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Series 1, Episode 19: Faiza Shaheen". Channel 4 News. 27 July 2018.
  17. ^ "Can you really argue with a racist?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  18. ^
    ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  19. ^ The paperback version of my book, Know your place, is out! I wrote it while working full time, so it was definitely a labour of love and weekends! Born... | By Dr Faiza ShaheenFacebook. Retrieved 4 April 2024 – via www.facebook.com.
  20. ^ Baddhan, Raj (4 September 2017). "Women dominate Asian Achievers Awards 2017".
  21. ^ "Revealed: The left's top 100 power list". Labour List. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Series 1, Episode 19: Faiza Shaheen". Channel 4 News. 27 July 2018.
  23. ^ a b Carswell, Simon (11 December 2019). "Rising Labour star threatens to unseat Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith". Irish Times. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  24. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (16 July 2018). "Faiza Shaheen selected to fight Iain Duncan Smith's seat". Labour List. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  25. ^ "Chingford Labour Selects Faiza Shaheen as Next Prospective Parliamentary Candidate – CWGLabour". 7 August 2018.
  26. ^ "It feels unbearable to lose to Iain Duncan Smith, so my campaign will continue". inews.co.uk. 13 December 2019.
  27. ^ "UK general election 2019: full results". ig.ft.com. 13 December 2019.
  28. ^ "Your prospective parliamentary candidate Dr Faiza Shaheen – CWGLabour". 26 June 2023.
  29. ^ a b c "Why I'm Standing". faizaforchingford.com. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  30. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  31. ^ Shaheen, Faiza (22 February 2024). "Faiza Shaheen on X". X. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  32. ^ Shaheen, Faiza (18 November 2019). "It's about time that we had an MP who lives in this community". Facebook. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
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