Access to Justice in Iran
Women, Perceptions, and Reality

This book offers a critical and in-depth analysis of access to justice from international and Islamic perspectives. Existing Western models have highlighted the mechanisms by which individuals can access justice; however, access to justice incorporates various conceptions of justice and of its users. This book evaluates the historical development of the justice sector in Iran and discusses issues including the performance of the justice sector, judicial independence, efficiency and accessibility, and normative protection, together with an analysis of barriers. It explores the legal empowerment of users, with a specific focus on women, and presents the findings of a survey study on the perceptions of Iranian women. This study is designed to focus on women's basic legal knowledge, their familiarity with legal procedure, perceptions of cultural barriers, issues that influence their preference for mechanisms of formal or alternative dispute solutions, and their level of satisfaction with their chosen courses of action.

1. Access-to-justice perspectives: a conceptual analysis; 2. The system of justice in Iran; 3. Barriers in the path to justice; 4. Women's access to justice and legal empowerment; 5. Methodology: how to measure access to justice; 6. Women's perceptions of access to justice.

Sahar Maranlou is an independent legal researcher and has written extensively in the fields of women empowerment, nongovernmental organizations, human rights, and Islamic law. She has consulted for a range of national and international organizations, including UNICEF and UNDP, and has provided Iranian organizations with her expert legal opinion in the areas of governance and the third sector. She is a member of the steering committee for the Global Alliance of Justice Education (GAJE) and has taught Islamic law and international human rights at the University Warwick and the University of Brunel.