Her mother Amurunnesa Khatun was a homemaker while her father Chowdhury Imamuzzaman was a civil engineer.

She stood ninth in the merit list in East Pakistan Higher Secondary Education Board.

[5] Chowdhury started her career as a lecturer in the political science department in the University of Dhaka in 1963.

[7] In 1966, she went on a Commonwealth Scholarship to School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London to obtain her PhD.

During her tenure in the department, she introduced courses related to women's empowerment and development into the curriculum.

[5] Chowdhury served as a visiting scholar at University of Minnesota in 1988 under a Fulbright fellowship for three months.

The duo edited a book Women and Politics Worldwide in 1994 published by Yale University Press.

[5] Her 2010 book Of Mangroves and Monsters chronicled women's participation in Bangladesh's political institutions and policy-making bodies and explored their peripheral involvement and marginalisation.

[11] Her research further studied systemic discrimination within institutions that disadvantaged women across professions and across cultures and class divides.

[12] Chowdhury served as an advisor in the first caretaker government led by Muhammad Habibur Rahman in 1996.

[5] Chowdhury received Ekushey Padak, Bangladesh's second highest civilian honour, for her outstanding contributions to research in 2008.