In the past decade women's increased involvement in religious activism has led to contentious debates among religious scholars, women, and the state. My dissertation investigates to extend to which women's religious authority in Iran is bridging the gap between Islamic jurisprudence and gender justice in the realm of family law. This project further explores the degree to which female activists draw on Shi'i jurisprudence and the Iranian Constitution to authenticate their arguments on gender justice.

In an effort to come to a better understanding of contemporary women's activism in Iran, I conducted a case study of a prominent Muslim women's coalition named E'telaf-I Islamiyyih Zanan (Women's Islamic Coalition). This organization promotes women's empowerment, gender justice, and policy reform through faith-based jurisprudence. By using a multidisciplinary approach, the dissertation explores the evolving roles of women as religious authorities and producers of religious knowledge, addressing how their scholarship challenges patriarchal interpretations of Islamic scriptures.

Through this case study, much of the juristic debates and the gridlocks of modernity and modern states' struggle with traditional family organization are brought to light, and the questions of how women are negotiating tradition with modernity become more conspicuous. More broadly, this dissertation provides a nuanced analysis of the ways in which women's religious activism and authority impacts policy reform and women's empowerment. My research contends that women's sacred activism in contemporary Iran has contributed to creating religious knowledge that affects socio-legal institutions, and the nature of lawmaking in the Islamic Republic of Iran.