In 1953 she graduated from Kabul Women's College, and received a degree in business in the United States in 1958.
[1] In 1959, she and Kubra Noorzai became one of the first women to appear in public in Afghanistan without a veil after Queen Humaira Begum had removed hers, supporting the call by the Prime minister Mohammed Daoud Khan for women to voluntary remove their veil.
[2] In 1964 King Mohammed Zahir Shah appointed her to an advisory committee that reviewed the draft 1964 constitution,[3] which granted women the right to vote and stand for election.
In 1965 she was elected to represent Kandahar in the House of the People of Parliament, and became a leading advocate of women's rights.
[1] In May 1990 she was appointed cabinet minister of Education and Training in the government of Mohammad Najibullah.