Dr Runa Laila is a senior research fellow in the department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Dr Laila obtained her MA and PhD degree in development studies at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She worked for ten years as an assistant professor in the department of Women and Gender Studies at Dhaka University in Bangladesh. Her research interest lies on gender equity, sexual and reproductive health and rights,  discourse analysis, and participatory action research.