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Hameeda Hossain (née Akhund; born 1936) is a Bangladeshi human rights activist and academic. She has published many books and articles relating to human rights and women's issues in Bangladesh, in Islam, and worldwide. She is a founding member of Ain o Salish Kendra, a legal aid and human rights organization.

In 1969, in the then East Pakistan, along with economist Rehman Sobhan she founded English-language monthly current affairs magazine, Forum. The magazine became renowned for its outspoken criticism against the West Pakistani establishment, and advocacy of democracy and economic reforms in the Pakistani union.

Hossain is a member of the board of directors of the Centre for Secular Space, an international human rights organization that stands for International Defense Against Religious Extremism.

Early life and education

Hameeda was born on December 28, 1936 to a Sunni Muslim family of Akhands in Hyderabad, Sindh (present-day Pakistan). Her father, Abdullah Shafi Muhammad Akhand was a judge posted to various cities in the British Raj. Her mother was raised in Turkey and returned to Bengal aged sixteen where she got married. Hameeda was the youngest of three girls and three boys.

The children lived with their mother in Karachi. She attended a convent school in Karachi. She graduated from Wellesley College in the US and earned a PhD from Oxford University.

Personal life

Hossain is married to Kamal Hossain since 1964. Kamal has been the president of the Gano Forum political party in Bangladesh since he founded it in 1992. They have two daughters, including Dina Hossain, a film maker, and Sara Hossain, a lawyer and writer who is the co-editor of 'Honor': Crimes, Paradigms and Violence Against Women.

References

1. "Hameeda Hossain". South Asia Citizens Web. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
2. "Board of Directors". Centre for Secular Space. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
3. "হামিদা হোসেন". Bdnews24.com (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
4. ^ "Hameeda Hossain". The 1947 Partition Archive.
5. "Hameeda Hossain [Oral history interview by Kris Manjapra]". Bengali Cultural Heritage in the Postcolonial Age. Tufts University.
6. Hameeda Hossain (16 May 2012). Dr. Hameeda Hossain lived in Hyderabad, Sindh, during 1947. The 1947 Partition Archive. Event occurs at at 0:47 minutes in – via YouTube. We stayed in Karachi with my mother, while he stayed wherever his work station was.
7. "Kamal Hossain Interview (Part 1)". আলাল ও দুলাল. 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
8. "Two decades of Gono Forum". Probenews. 4 February 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
9. "Nurul Kabir to continue his defence on Dec 20". BDNews24. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
10. "Yunus verdict today". The Daily Star. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
11. Lynn Welchman & Sara Hossain, ed. (2005). 'Honor': Crimes, Paradigms and Violence Against Women. London: Zed Books. ISBN 9781842776278. Retrieved 22 December 2012.

• 1936 births
• Living people
• Wellesley College alumni
• Bangladeshi feminist writers
• Bangladeshi feminists
• Proponents of Islamic feminism
• Bangladeshi women's rights activists
• Alumni of the University of Oxford
• 20th-century Bangladeshi lawyers
• 21st-century Bangladeshi lawyers
• Bangladeshi women lawyers
• Bangladeshi people of Pakistani descent
• 20th-century women lawyers
• 21st-century women lawyers