Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Nazma Chowdhury, also wife of former Chief Justice Mainur Reza Chowdhury, passed away at a city hospital today at the age of 79.

Family sources said she will be buried at Banani graveyard following a namaj-e-janaza to be held at Gulshan Azad Mosque here after Asr prayers.

Former caretaker government adviser and eminent educationist Professor Chowdhury has made a special contribution to the movement of women's education and women's rights in the country.

'Women and Politics Worldwide', a book edited by her was adorned with the Best Political Publishing award in the United States by the American Political Science Association in 1994.

She was the founder of the Department of Women and Gender Studies of Dhaka University.

Nazma Chowdhury, also a professor of the Department of Political Science at Dhaka University, has served as an adviser to the caretaker government in 1996.

 The Bangladesh University Grants Commission awarded Chowdhury 'Rokeya Chair' in 2007.

In 2008, she was also awarded the prestigious Ekushey Padak.

BK