Insecurity for Women in Iraq

A young woman who calls herself Riverbend, wrote on August, 24 2003: “I’m a computer science graduate. Before the war I was working in an Iraqi database/software company in Baghdad as a programmer/network administrator. It was tedious, it was back- breaking, it was geeky, and it was wonderful. No matter what anyone heard, females in Iraq were a lot better off than females in other parts of the Arab world—and some parts of the Western world. We had equal salaries. We were doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, professors, architects, programmers, and more. Now females can no longer leave their homes alone” (river- bendblog.blogspot.com). 

 She is one of the bloggers from Iraq keeping daily web journals on the impact of the war on their lives and the lives of those around them. As a female, Riverbend also gives insight into the struggles and fears of Iraqi women who are fighting their own war in the chaos and lawlessness that is now Iraq. 

What she fears is the rise in fundamentalism: “Before the war about 50 percent of college students were female and more than 50 percent of the work force was composed of women. Not so any more. We are seeing a terrifying increase in fundamentalism in Iraq…. Before the occupation I more or less dressed the way I wanted to. I lived in jeans and cotton trousers and comfortable shirts. Now I don’t dare to leave the house without a long skirt and loose shirt (preferably with long sleeves). A girl wearing jeans risks being attacked, abducted, or insulted by fundamentalists who have been ‘liberated’.”  

She has a hope that the war may one day be over and that the U.S. forces will, at some point, leave Iraq. Hope changes to fear at the thought of a future of hijab-wearing domesticity under fundamentalist dictates. The post-war 2003 rise of conservative Islamist organizations has put Iraqi women at risk of losing still more of the rights and freedoms that they had during much of Saddam Hussein’s rule, such as the right to receive an education, work, drive, vote, and hold political office, according to Human Rights Watch (“Climate of Fear,” Human Rights Watch, July 2003).  

Post-war insecurity has left many women unable to leave their homes without a male family member to escort them. Prior to the 2003 war, Iraqi women and girls were able to move about independently. Iraqi women were among the most educated in the region. They were part of the labor force and visible at almost all levels of state institutions and bureaucracy. These days, however, religious intolerance, violent burglaries, mafia-like gangs that roam the cities at night, increased sexual violence, as well as militant resistance and U.S. snipers, have pushed women into the back ground. 

At least 400 women and girls as young as 8 years old were raped during or immediately after the war, according to HRW. Under-reporting due to the stigma against victims of sexual violence means that the real figure was probably much higher. In Iraq, women are still viewed as the ultimate reservoir of traditional values and any stain on their honor is punishable by death. Fear of rape is therefore aggravated by the occurrence of “honor killings.” The family members of women who are known to have, or often only suspected of having, “violated” codes of behavior, particularly with respect to keeping their virginity before marriage, may kill the woman in order to restore the honor of the family. This phenomenon is stronger in rural areas, yet lenient sentences are given throughout the country to perpetrators for reasons of “honorable motivation.” 

Discrimination against women is banned in Iraq’s Constitution, but laws still contain provisions that deny women rights and control of their lives or fail to protect them from violence. The Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) of March 2004—effectively an interim constitution—states: “All Iraqis are equal in their rights without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality, religion or origin, and they are all equal before the law. Discrimination against an Iraqi citizen on the basis of his gender, nationality, religion, or origin is prohibited” (Article 12). However, the TAL contains no reference to the extensive legal reforms needed to remove discriminatory provisions from penal, personal status, and nationality laws.