Dunya Maumoon is the daughter of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former President of the Maldives. She is the eldest sister of his children, and one of two daughters. Following undergraduate studies in Social Anthropology at Cambridge University, England, she went on to complete her post-grauduate MPhil Degree at the London School of Economics.
Dunya Maumoon was previously employed as the Assistant Representative head of the Maldives office of the UNFPA,[1] and has written on the subject of gender and women's role in Islam. She is sometimes described as the most likely successor to her father.[2]
She held the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2007-2008. Under her tenure as the Head of Multilateral Affairs, the Maldives embarked on achieving foreign policy objectives mainly on climate change and environmental conservation.
Dunya Maumoon is married to Shuaib Mohamed Shah, a Bangladeshi lawyer by profession, and has three children.