What makes the book unique is the breadth of the historical narrative in each chapter. The contributors to the book offer a genealogy of the evolvement of women’s activism in most countries since the early 20th century until the present. The book shows, as Deniz Kandiyoti reflects in her concluding remarks, that the politics of gender remains at the core of the struggle for democracy and human rights.
- Zainab Saleh, Haverford College, International Journal of Middle East Studies
Nearly two decades after her path breaking Women, Islam and the State, Deniz Kandiyoti is back with another seminal volume reflecting on a similar set of problematics. Edited with two of her gifted students, Nadye Ali and Kathryn Poots, themselves leaders in the field, this spectacular collection of articles captures the intensity of debates in the social sciences and complexity of gender in our times. With its theoretical insights and carefully grounded empirical research, the volume will stand the test of time and become a classic.
Beth Baron, CUNY