Marvia Malik: Pakistan hires first transgender news anchor
The 21-year-old journalist and model said she was ‘moved to tears’ when offered the job

A Pakistani news channel has made history by appointing the country’s first transgender TV newsreader.
Journalist and model Marvia Malik, 21, made her debut on the Lahore-based Kohenoor news channel on 23 March, and told the BBC she was “moved to tears” when she was offered the job.
Pakistan’s social networks were “abuzz” following Marvia Malik’s first on-air appearance, says CNN. Many hailed the move as progress for transgender rights in Pakistan, a country in which violence and discrimination against members of the LGBT community are widespread.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Malik, whose own family have disowned her, told CNN she is “pleased with the attention” that her appointment has generated, but said “more needs to be done when it comes to improving the lives of Pakistan’s transgender community”.
“I want to show the country that we are more than objects of ridicule, that we are also human,” she said. “I want the next generation of young transgender kids to look up to me as an inspiration that they can be accepted and that there can be opportunities for them.”
According to Pakistan’s most recent census in 2017, which recorded the country’s transgender population for the first time, fewer than 10,000 people identify as transgender in a country of almost 200 million.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The state of Britain's Armed Forces
The Explainer Geopolitical unrest and the unreliability of the Trump administration have led to a frantic re-evaluation of the UK's military capabilities
By The Week UK
-
Anti-anxiety drug has a not-too-surprising effect on fish
Under the radar The fish act bolder and riskier
By Devika Rao, The Week US
-
Crossword: April 21, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across Syria
THE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarray
In the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Pakistan train hostage standoff ends in bloodshed
Speed Read Pakistan's military stormed a train hijacked by separatist militants, killing 33 attackers and rescuing hundreds of hostages
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?
The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK
-
Why Serbian protesters set off smoke bombs in parliament
THE EXPLAINER Ongoing anti-corruption protests erupted into full view this week as Serbian protesters threw the country's legislature into chaos
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
The resurgence of the Taliban in Pakistan
Under the Radar Islamabad blames Kabul for sheltering jihadi fighters terrorising Pakistan's borderlands
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
The slow fight for same-sex marriage in Asia
Under the Radar Thailand joins Nepal and Taiwan as the only Asian nations to legalise LGBT unions, amid repressive regimes and religious traditions
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK