Women in a Hostile Nation: Part I
The Horrifying Downward Spiral of Women's Rights in Iraq

        Just before I left for Iraq in early June, a friend remarked that there was at least one good result of the 2003 invasion: that women’s rights had been improved.
        I’ve heard this before, and many people in America think it’s true. After all, that was part of the plan, to liberate the people of Iraq from tyranny and oppression. Women’s rights were certainly touted as an example of what we were going there to improve. Since we don’t hear much about it in the news, it could be assumed that the station of the Iraqi female has been raised. It isn’t true.
        As bad as life under Saddam was, the rules governing everyday life were largely secular; women played an important and visible role in society. Only a few months after Baghdad fell, the kidnappings of women started. Beatings, rapes, and killings numbering in the thousands followed.
        Women who might’ve been enrolled in a university before the war, or had been gainfully employed (women made up 40% of the pre-war work force) now stay home all day. If they go out, they must be draped in black cloth from head to toe, though they’ve sported jeans and uncovered heads for years.
        The inability of the government to protect people from the escalating violence gave rise to militias, who organized the only law and order that some areas had. Iraq’s militias are largely proponents of radical religious views, and this leads to what is often called the “Talibanization” of Iraq.
        Sectarian violence has left neighborhoods as segregated fiefdoms, with one group dominant and other groups killed or made to flee. An example of how this affects the life of females, is that they must not only cover themselves as they’ve never done before, but also must conform to the particular style of the militia that controls their neighborhood. This is a way for groups to identify their turf by showing off property.
        It’s not just happening on the local level, either. Many of the leaders responsible have amassed great clout in the government, working to make their conservative brand of Shari’a (Islamic law) legally binding. Elements of this have made their way into the Constitution, which the United States government supports.

A young woman in Baghdad who must now cover her head and
constantly fear violence and kidnapping.

        The chaos that followed the war made for a lack of consequences for violent actions. When men can do anything at all, subjugation of women isn’t usually far behind. Unfortunately, Iraq is no exception.
        Females can be kidnapped, sometimes in groups. Even if the motivation for this is ransom money, the horrors that await them may be rape, torture, and death. Other times, they are sold into sexual trafficking rings (new to Iraq) or are forced to work in brothels. If a woman is returned, her relatives often don’t want her back, because of the shame that such an act brings upon a family. It is even possible that she could be harmed or killed by her family to preserve that honor. For the same reason, bodies of hundreds of women are routinely left unclaimed in the morgues.
        These women aren’t given much attention in the media, and are largely forgotten. There are a few courageous people, however, who are trying to help, at great risk to themselves.
        The hope of life is given to some by a group of women and men who are trying to change the terrible direction that human rights have taken in today’s Iraq.
They are the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq, or OWFI, and they will be the subject of next week’s installment.