Bani Dugal is the Principal Representative of the Bahá'í International Community, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations. She also serves as Director of the Bahá'í International Community’s Office for the Advancement of Women. As part of the community of international NGOs at the United Nations, she is the Former Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Former Chair of the Global Forum of the NGO Committee on UNICEF, member of the Steering Committee of the NGO Committee on UNICEF’s Working Group on Girls, ex-Officio of the NGO Committee on Human Rights, ex-Officio of the NGO Committee on UNIFEM, and former Convener of the Advocates for African Food Security.

Some noteworthy events Bani has recently been asked to participate in include: In July 2005 she was invited to speak as a discussant at the Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, hosted by a tripartite convening group comprised of representatives from 17 Member States, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The World Bank, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the Committee of Religious NGO’s at the United Nations. In March 2005 she was invited to speak on Women's Role in Conflict Prevention, Resolution and Peace-Building at the International Conference on Gender Mainstreaming and Millennium Development Goals in Pakistan, also in March, she also was invited by the Commission on the Status of Women Bureau to participate in a High Level Panel commemorating 30 years since the first World Conference on Women in Mexico.

In January 2005, Bani was invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as a participant Religious Leader and Women’s Leader and panelist for several sessions, including: Update 2005: Global Governance, Women and the World in 2020, A Celebration of Faith and Values in Leadership. Bani was an invited panelist at the 30th anniversary celebration of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women at the UN Headquarters in New York in 2004, and in December 2003 she addressed the South Asian Regional Conference on Education: The Right of Every Girl and Boy as the Inaugural Event Keynote Speaker in New Delhi.

She holds a Masters in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law in New York and worked at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation before coming to the Bahá'í International Community in 1994.

Prior to relocating to the United States in 1988, she practiced law before the Supreme Court of India for six years. She assisted many indigent women through her work with the Legal Aid Society of India.

Bani has been advocating for women for many decades. In 1979 while studying in college, she worked for the ESCAP Preparatory Session for the Second World Conference on Women in Copenhagen. She was actively involved in the Beijing Conference and Beijing +5 and recent Beijing +10 reviews.