Ilina Sen has been active in the women’s and other rights-based movements for over three decades. Educated at Shillong, Kolkata and at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, her research, writing and action has focused on women’s politics and livelihood issues, as well as issues of sustainable development, agro-biodiversity and peace.

During the years her husband, Dr Binayak Sen, was in prison on charges that many considered were trumped up, she was actively involved in the campaign for his release. She has been professor of women’s studies at the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya [International Hindi University], Wardha, and at the Tata institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Currently, she is senior fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Her major publications include A Space within the Struggle (1990) and Sukhvasin: The Migrant Woman of Chhattisgarh (1995).