This ground-breaking collection of fifteen essays provides a greater understanding of the history of the Gulf and the Arab world as well as the history of Muslim women. The result of a project aimed at finding sources and studying the history of women in the region, the articles are presented thematically and chronologically, starting with ancient history, and moving on to the medieval, early modern and contemporary periods.They present discourses regarding the life of women in early Islam, considering women's work and the diversity of jobs they performed as part of their economic contribution, the family, the legal system, and laws dealing with women and family from the pre-modern to the modern periods.