Islah Jad


Islah Jad is a tenured assistant professor of Gender and Development at Birzeit University. She is also the co-founder and current Director of the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit and a Core Group Member of the Arab Families Working Group. A prominent figure in the Palestinian women’s movement, Jad also helped to establish the Women’s Affair Centre in Gaza and Nablus, Les Amies du Francis, the Child Corner project in el-Bireh, and the WATC. Jad carried out Gender Consultancy for the United Nations Development Programme and was a co-author of the United Nation’s Arab Human Development Report of 2005. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Cairo University, a master's degree in political theory from the University of Nantes, and a Ph.D. in gender and development studies from the University of London.
WATC was established in 1992 in Ramallah, West Bank.

Selected publications

  • Jad, Islah. 2005. “Islamist Women of Hamas: A New Women’s Movement?” In On Shifting Ground; Muslim Women in a Global Era, edited by Fereshteh Nouraie-Simone. New York: The Feminist Press.
  • UNDP. Jad, Islah and others. 2006. Arab Human Development Report, 2005: Women’s Empowerment. New York: UNDP.
  • Jad, Islah. 2005–2006. “Letters from Ramallah.” Bahithat 11: 206–226.
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  • Jad, Islah. 2020. "." In Women's Grassroots Mobilization in the MENA Region Post-2011.Baker Institute. 28 June 2020. https://doi.org/10.25613/j0tx-w723