Geetanjali Misra is the co-founder and executive director of Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action, a women's rights and non-governmental organization based in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Geetanjali has worked at an activist, grant-making and policy levels on issues of

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

reproductive health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's Human reproductive system, reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life. Se ...

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and

gender-based violence Gender-related violence or gender-based violence (GBV) refers to any kind of violence directed against people due to their gender or gender identification, culture may have a role to play, being lower in egalitarianism societies and higher, sexist ...

. Presently, she is a member of the

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Gender Task Force, the Spotlight Civil Society reference group and a board member of

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is an international charitable foundation based in the United States focused on human rights of LGBT people, intersex people, and people of color. The organization provide grants to individuals and org ...

Recent life and works

Misra has taught as an adjunct professor on the intersection of

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

issues,

sexual rights Sexual and reproductive health and rights or ''SRHR'' is the concept of human rights applied to sexuality and reproduction. It is the recognition of every person’s right to make fully informed and self-determined decisions about their sexual p ...

and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

at the

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (formally the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health) is the public health graduate school of Columbia University. Located on the Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus in the ...

. Before joining CREA, she was program officer for Sexuality and Reproductive Health at the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

in New Delhi and supported non-governmental organizations in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, working on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She also co-founded SAKHI for South Asian Women in 1989, a non-profit organization in New York, committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin. Formerly, she was Chair of the Boards of

Reproductive Health Matters ''Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM)'', formerly ''Reproductive Health Matters (RHM)'', is an organisation that promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally. SRHM's mission is to advance the creation and disseminati ...

(UK), a global peer reviewed journal on sexual and reproductive health and rights and

Mama Cash Mama Cash is the oldest international women's fund in the world, founded in the Netherlands in 1983. In 2013, Mama Cash supported 118 women's, girls and trans rights organisations with 4.3 million euros. History Mama Cash was founded in the Nethe ...

(the Netherlands). She was a board member of FHI 360 (USA) and also served as president of the board of the

AWID The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), formerly the Association for Women in Development, is an international feminist membership and movement support organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development ...

. In the past, she held several key advisory roles such as being a Member of

Cordaid Cordaid is an internationally operating value-based emergency relief and development organization, mostly working in conflict-affected countries. It is one of the biggest international development organizations in the Netherlands, with a netwo ...

’s Expert Advisory Group (the Netherlands), served as a core member of the Action Plus Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV/AIDS (India), and was regional and global advisor for Global Fund for Women (USA). She writes on issues of sexuality, gender, and rights, and in 2005, she co-authored '' Sexuality, Gender and Rights: Exploring Theory and Practice in South and Southeast Asia'' (

SAGE Publications Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. Sage ...

) with Radhika Chandiramani. The book covers sexuality and rights in South Asia, from education and health services to

transsexuality A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (includ ...

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

concerns and treatment, and advocacy. Misra has also written a number of academic papers on the rights of sex workers in Asia, including ''Protecting the Rights of Sex Workers: The Indian Experience'', published in 2000 in the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

Health and Human Rights ''Health and Human Rights'' is a biannual peer-reviewed public health journal that was established in 1994. It covers research on the conceptual foundations of human rights and social justice in relation to health. The founding editor-in-chief was ...

journal.JSTOR abstract
/ref> She is also author of ‘The Power of Movements’ published by AWID. She holds master’s degrees in

International Affairs International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, US, and in Economics from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, US.

References

External links

Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice
at iccwomen.org Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian feminists {{India-academic-bio-stub