Islah Jad

Islah Jad (born 1951) 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 (Women’s Affairs Technical Committee). 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 (core team member) 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. −−−. −−−. −−−. −−−. −−−. −−−. −−−. −−−. −−−. Jad, Islah. 2020. "NGOs: Between Buzzwords and Social Movements." In Women's Grassroots Mobilization in the MENA Region Post-2011 (Kelsey Norman, ed.).Baker Institute (Houston, TX). 28 June 2020.