Focusing specifically on Jordanian and Palestinian women, Sonbol shows the legal constraints extant in a number of legal codes, namely penal codes that permit violence against Muslim women and personal status laws that require a husband's permission for a woman to work.
A collection of 18 essays that covers a wide range of material and re-evaluates women's studies and Middle Eastern studies, Muslim women and the Shari'a courts, the Ottoman household, Dhimmi communities, family law, morality and violence.