Introduction, D. Kandiyoti; end of empire - Islam, nationalism and women in Turkey, D. Kandiyoti; hazards of modernity and morality - women, state and ideology in contemporary Iran, A. Najmabadi; the convenience of subservience - women and the state of Pakistan, A. Jalal; the quest for national identity - women, islam and the state in Bangladesh, N. Kabeer; forced identities - communalism, fundamentalism and women in India, A. Chhachhi; elite strategies for state building - women, family, religion and the state in Iraq and Lebanon, S. Joseph; competing agendas - feminists, Islam and the state in 19th and 20th century Egypt, M. Badran; the law, the state and socialist policies with regard to women - the case of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, M. Molyneux.