The complicated link between women and religion in the Middle East has been a source of debate for centuries, and has special resonance today. Whether religion reinforces female oppression or provides opportunities for women - or a combination of both - depends on time, place and circumstance. This book seeks to contextualize women's roles within their religious traditions rather than through the lens of a dominant culture. Gender, Religion and Change in the Middle East crosses boundaries and borders, and will appeal to a global audience.

This book provides a comprehensive survey of women in Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities in the Middle East during the last two centuries. The authors consider women's defined roles within these religious communities, as well as exploring how women themselves develop and apply their own strategies within religious societies. The wide-ranging accounts draw on case studies from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon since 1800. Throughout, the authors challenge our understanding of patriarchy to offer a more nuanced account.

Taking a balanced look at the issues of religion, gender and change in the Middle East, this unique interdisciplinary study gives new insight to the theme of women and religion in the Middle East.

About the editors

Inger Marie Okkenhaug is a researcher in the Department of History, University of Bergen, Norway. Ingvild Flaskerud is a researcher in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Troms, Norway.

Contents

Introduction
Inger Marie Okkenhaug and Ingvild Flaskerud

'Justice without Drama: Observations from Gaza City Sharia Court'
Nahda Younis Shehada, Institute of Social Studies, the Hague

'From the Army of God to the Israeli Armed Forces: An Interaction Between Two Cultural Models'
Yohai Hakak

'To Give the Boys Energy, Manliness, and Self-Command in Temper: The Anglican Male Ideal and St. George's School in Jerusalem, c. 1900-1940'
Inger Marie Okkenhaug, University of Bergen, Norway

'Women Students at the American University of Beirut 1920s-1940s'
Aleksandra Majstorac Kobiljski

'Women, Social Welfare, and the State in Egypt'
Beth Baron, City University of New York

'Nineteenth-Century Protestant Missions and Middle-Eastern Women: An Overview'
Heleen Murre-van den Berg, University of Leiden

'The Paradox of the New Islamic Woman in Turkey'
Jenny B. White, Boston University

'Visions of Mary in the Middle East: Gender and the Power of a Symbol'
Willy Jansen, University of Nijmegen

'An Army of Women Learning Torah'
Leah Shakdiel

'Stones and Stories: Engaging with Gender and Complex Emergencies'
Nefissa Naguib, Oslo University College

'Tradition and Change: Afghan Women's Contribution to Spiritual Capital'
Karin Ask, Christian Michelsen's Institue, Bergen

'Vows, Mediumship and Gender: Women's Votive Meals in Iran'
Azam Torab, University of Cambridge