Gender relations among Middle Eastern Jews have long been described by outsiders as “traditional” and “patriarchal” (terms that often thinly conceal the notion of “backwardness”). However, historical and ethnographic evidence reveals that there has been great diversity in the lives and roles of Mizraḥi women throughout history, and that Middle Eastern Jewish attitudes about women have so many nuances that they cannot be easily categorized as “traditional” versus “modern.” What follows is an attempt to provide a sense of the diversity among Jewish women from Lebanon, Syria, and Egyp…