About Radhika Balakrishnan
Born 1959. Radhika Balakrishnan is an activist, economist, sociologist and university teacher.
A photograph of Radhika Balakrishnan, courtesy of the Center for Women's Global Leadership. Radhika Balakrishnan (born in Ootacamund, India) is the faculty director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University. Currently, she serves as the Chair of the Board of the United States Human Rights Network and Chair on the Board of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Commissioner for the Commission for Gender Equity for the City of New York, and President of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) for 2020-2021.
Biography Radhika Balakrishnan grew up in Tamil Nadu, India and moved to Chicago, Illinois at the age of 13. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign initially to study engineering, but switched majors and graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. It was at the University of Illinois that she first became involved in the women's movement, which inspired her to study economics.
Career From 1992 to 1995, Radhika Balakrishnan worked at the Ford Foundation as a program officer in the Asian Regional Program. From 2003 to 2009, she was a professor at Marymount Manhattan College where she taught economics and international studies In September 2009, she joined Rutgers University as a professor of Women's and Gender Studies and the executive director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership, where she focused on issues of economics and social justice from a feminist perspective as they relate to macroeconomic policy, especially in health and education.
Interviews "More Women Peacekeepers Is Not the Solution" Cléo Fatoorehchi interviews RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership. Inter Press Service, December 2010. 16 Days of Activism: Spotlight on Militarism. Global Fund for Women, November 2010. Interview with Radika Balakrishnan on Huffington Post Article Why Human Rights are Indispensable to Financial Regulation. Law and Order Radio, Pacific Radio, April 2010. Experts Comment on Rights in Times of Economic Crisis. Center for Economic and Social Rights, November 2009.
Her publications include:
Books
Recent articles and book chapters
Balakrishnan, Radhika; Sayeed, Asad (2004), "Why do firms disintegrate? Towards an understanding of the firm-level decision to subcontract and its implication for labor", in
Don’t just read it —
keep it.
Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.
- E-book
- Audio
- Video
Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free
Important facts
People in Radhika Balakrishnan's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Radhika Balakrishnan's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Radhika Balakrishnan?
American academic and activist
When was Radhika Balakrishnan born?
Radhika Balakrishnan was born in 1959 in Ooty.
What is Radhika Balakrishnan's occupation?
Radhika Balakrishnan is an activist, economist, sociologist and university teacher.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: Radhika Balakrishnan
· DBpedia: Radhika Balakrishnan
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Radhika Balakrishnan. https://biography.guide/radhika-balakrishnan/
MLA: "Radhika Balakrishnan." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/radhika-balakrishnan/.
Chicago: "Radhika Balakrishnan." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/radhika-balakrishnan/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
Page generated 2026-09-27 05:17 UTC