Mayer (USA) is Associate Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She earned a Ph.D in History from the University of Michigan, a Certificate in Islamic and Comparative Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania. Mayer's research areas include Islamic law in contemporary Middle Eastern and North African countries and international human rights law, with an emphasis on women’s international human rights. Mayer is an advocate for the universality of human rights and has critiqued the idea that cultural particularisms justify violating international human rights law. Her research on legal developments has taken her to countries ranging from Morocco to Pakistan. Mayer has collaborated with women’s human rights activists and human rights NGOs from Muslim countries, in addition to participating in human rights conferences around the globe. She has published extensively in journals and edited collections, and her book Islam and Human Rights in its fifth edition was published in 2014 in a Persian translation.