[citation needed] She earned her BA (1968) and MA (1969) from the University of Dhaka and her PhD (1978) in moral philosophy from Monash University, where she was the first doctoral advisee of Australian philosopher Peter Singer.

The title of her doctoral dissertation was Moore's Ethics: Theory and Practice.

[1] Begum was a prolific author, and translated a number of philosophical classics into Bengali.

Begum served as chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Dhaka from 1991 to 1994 and was appointed to the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh's Rokeya Chair in 2010.

[4] Begum died from COVID-19 at a hospital in Dhaka, on 1 December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.