Women in Contemporary Iraq :
a Brief Overview

for Zare's WMST 1080
Fall Semester 2004, University of Wyoming

All of these photos are under copyright, and this page is available temporarily for educational purposes only.

This information was excerpted from UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women which started in 1976.  For the full text, please go to www.womenwarpeace.org/iraq/iraq.htm

1970-1991

A new constitution made women and men equal under
 the law in 1970, though family law still enforced
 patriarchal judgments.

Beginning in 1974, under Saddam Hussein, women's literacy and
 education improved.  (Iraq eventually achieved nearly universal
 primary education for girls and boys.)

     Restrictions on women outside the home were lifted.  For instance,women could drive and work outside the home.

    Women won the right to vote and run for political office.

 Women filled jobs traditionally held by men.

        Example: In the 1980s, women were 46% of all teachers, 29% of all physicians,
46% of dentists, 15% of factory workers, and 70% of pharmacists.

   In summary, before 1991, Iraqi women were among the most educated and professional women in the Arab world.

            Why?

1) oil

The country’s amassing of wealth during the 70s allowed it to establish a larger safety net
 and provide a comprehensive system of education and healthcare.  The nation rapidly approached
the standards of the West in the mid 80s.

2) war

Many of these rights came about while the Iran-Iraq war was fought
during the 1980s.  Women were needed in the public workforce
to sustain the economy and maintain civil institutions. 

The war itself, had hugely negative effects on women
and all citizens.
Thousands of people perished in the chemical bombardments,
mass executions,and other forms of ethnic cleansing employed
by Baghdad against Iraqi Kurds.

  Furthermore, Hussein’s government engaged in torture, rape,
 and execution of women and their fathers, brothers and husbands
 to consolidate its power.

1990s
Hussein wanted to prop up his authority by appeasing religious
fundamentalists, so he began to pass some anti-women
legistlation, such as a decree granting immunity
to men who killed their sisters if their sisters had done
something to shame the family such as become
pregnant out of wedlock.
(This crime is known as an “honor killing.”)

2003
After Hussein lost control of his power, the Security Council
 reaffirmed law based on equal rights.  But the conflict has
 so destabilized the country that Iraqi women
now cope in conditions worse than their great-grandmothers’
conditions. Iraqi women have become victims of abduction
 and rape(400 during the war alone, some as young as 8).
 
This has created an atmosphere of fear: many have stopped
attending school or the office or even leaving
their house for errands. They are even afraid to go out
 to seek medical treatment, which is one of the many
reasons that the health of women overall,
and pregnant women and their newborns specificially,
has declined dramatically in the past two years.

Many begin to fear what you read about in the
articles today: that a representational form of government,
in which Shia clerics are likely to take a large role, would
in fact enforce a more conservative interpretation
of women’s rights than was known during Hussein’s rule.

2004

On the 8^th of March, an interim constitution was signed. 
It contains clauses protecting gender equality.
However, Human Rights Watch
(a NY based group) and Amnesty International
are alarmed because the constitution offers
no explicit guarantee that women will have equal
rights within marriage and divorce and it does
not explicitly guarantee women
the right to inherit on an equal basis
with men.  There is also no agreed upon
approach for polygamy, domestic violence,
or for “honor killings.”

There has also been a rise in the veiling of women. 
Example: by April, all females at the University of Basra
had all taken to wearing a veil, including Christians.
The harassment they had received from groups of
men if their hair was exposed or if they wore
make up had become too much for them,
especially when their complaints to the
occupying forces about this harassment
went unheeded.

Recommended websites for further information:

“A Climate of Terror: the Progress of Women’s Rights…”
from The Hamilton Spectator, October 2, 2004 (Canada)
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/

“Leading Iraqi Feminist Yanar Mohammed on the Role of Women in Occupied Iraq”
at www.democracynow.org

”A Look into the Women’s Movement in Iraq” by Saeid N. Neshat
 from the Iranian women’s studies journal Farzaneh
http://www.farzanehjournal.com/

BBCArabic.com interviewed six Iraqi women
on the impact war has had on their lives.