Historian and gender studies specialist focusing on the Middle East and Islamic societies and a consultant on gender, culture and Islam.

I would like to thank Mariz Tadros for inviting me to the workshop, ‘Religious Framings of Gender Policies and Practices’, at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex and the participants of the workshop for two days of lively debate and provocative discussion during which a range of views was brought to the fore. The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to share ideas in formation as well as the fruits of longer work. I thank also Philippa Strum, my colleague at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, who read the final version of this article. Finally I would like to convey my thanks to the many friends and colleagues with whom I have had the privilege of enjoying a moveable feast of conversations, in cyber and real space, on issues raised in this article, and many more.