"These four volumes in this major series... provide a single-source reference to the status of the field of women's history and to ways that the field can be expanded.... A basic set for all academic libraries." Library Journal Academic Newswire

Tracing the evolution of the role of women beginning with ancient Middle Eastern societies through the 17th century, Nashat and Tucker examine the interplay between local practices and early Islamic beliefs and institutions, as well as economic activity, access to political power, and contributions to cultural life.

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In an rewarding new study, Tucker explores the way in which Islamic legal thinkers understood Islam as it related to women and gender roles. In seventeenth and eighteenth century Syria and Palestine, Muslim legal thinkers gave considerable attention to women's roles in society, and Tucker shows how fatwas, or legal opinions, greatly influenced these roles. She challenges prevailing views on Islam and gender, revealing Islamic law to have been more fluid and flexible than previously thought. Although the legal system had a consistent patriarchal orientation, it was modulated by...