Books
A literary scholar, feminist researcher, and activist, ROUSHAN JAHAN graduated from the Universities of Dhaka and Chicago: She taught English at the University of Dhaka before leaving academia and founding Women for Women, the first autonomous women's research and advocacy organization in Bangladesh in 1973. Since then, she has been engaged in research on women and development. Her areas of specialization are literacy and education, employment, health and population, violence against women, and cross-cultural studies. During the last two decades she has acted as a consultant to the Government of Bangladesh and various regional and international bodies, including UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, APDC, SAARC secretariat, ASPBAE to help prepare national policies and regional strategies in the areas of her specialization. Ms. Jahan has also represented Bangladesh and presented country reports in many regional and international fora, including UN Women's Conferences in Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995). As a Vice-President of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, the largest women's activist organization in the country, and an active member of APWLD and DAWN, two international women's networks, she has been a part of the dynamic and international women's movement during the last two decades. Her publication Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), is recommended reading in many US colleges and universities. Her books, No better options?: Industrial Women Workers of Bangladesh (Dhaka: University Press Ltd, 1990), Literacy for Rural Women (Dhaka UNAB, 1993), Hidden Danger: Women and Family Violence in Bangladesh (Dhaka: Women For Women, 1994), and Giving and Fund Raising in Bangladesh (Manila: Asian Development Bank, 2002) have drawn critical acclaim both in Bangladesh and abroad.
