Dr. Gita Sen is a founder and member of the Executive Committee of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). The United Nations System has sought out her expertise in a number of ways, including during intergovernmental processes, high-level events and as an advisor to policies and programmes. She was lead consultant for drafting UNFPA’s India Country Population Assessment document for the 2003-2007period.
She currently serves on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research, and is co-chair of PAHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Gender Equality and Health.
In India, she has been a member of the Mission Steering Group for the National Rural Health Mission, and is on the Governing Board of the National Health Systems Resource Centre. She was a member of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Care set up by the Indian Planning Commission. She served on the Governing Boards of UNRISD and of the UN University. Her numerous book publications include among others Gender Equity in Health: the Shifting Frontiers of Evidence and Action (Routledge, 2010), Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Processes- Moving Beyond Cairo (Oxford University Press/IUSSP, 2000), and Population Policies Reconsidered: Health, Empowerment and Rights (Harvard University Press, 1994).
She has received honorary doctorates from the University of East Anglia, the Karolinka Institute (Stockholm), the Open University (United Kingdom) and the University of Sussex, and will receive one from the University of Edinburgh in 2014. She was a recipient of the Volvo Environment Prize for her work on women, population and development.