Laya Joneydi—an associate professor of law and political science at the University of Tehran and an important academic voice within Iranian society in the areas of women's rights and civil liberties—is an Oberlin 2007-08 Affiliate Scholar. She will give a free public talk and meet with students this week.

In her talk, Joneydi will discuss the roles of women in the Islamic judiciary and the debates within Islamic jurisprudence, particularly about women as judges in resolution of disputes. The event—titled “Women in Judiciaries in Islamic Countries”—will take place Monday, September 24 at 8 p.m. in Room 101 of Oberlin College’s Wilder Hall, 135 W. Lorain St.

Joneydi is one of a very few female members of the faculty of law and political science at the University of Tehran, where she was educated. In 2000 she was honored as “the Most Distinguished Researcher” among PhD students and since then has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international, commercial, and Islamic law, as well as human rights and women’s rights at the university. She is also an active researcher at its Comparative Law Institute.

Joneydi has published several books and essays on arbitration, commercial law, human rights, and women’s rights and is the coauthor of Freedom of Thought and (University of Tehran, 2003). She has participated in many international conferences and served as a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies Program in 2002-03.

The scholar, who has been in residency at Oberlin for several weeks, also will meet with students in several Middle East North Africa-related courses this week and has plans to return to campus during spring semester.

Her lecture is sponsored by the College’s Muslim Students Association, Multicultural Resource Center, Oberlin College Dialogue Center, the Gender and Women’s Program, Middle East North Africa Committee, Department of Religion, and Law and Society Program.