This collection of case studies, covering the period from classical Islam to the present, and taken from across the Shi?i Islamic world, reflects on the roles that women have played in exercising religious authority across time and space. Comparative reflection on the case studies allows for the formulation of hypotheses regarding the conditions and developments – whether theological, jurisprudential, social, economic or political – that enhanced or stifled the flourishing of female religious authority in Shi?i Islam.