For years Iraqi women enjoyed access to education and professional careers. After the U.S. invasion, President Bush promised to expand those freedoms, but the prevalence of sectarian violence and religious fundamentalism has stripped Iraq’s women of many of the rights they had been accustomed to.
Washington Post:
Life has become more difficult for most Iraqis since the February bombing of a Shiite Muslim mosque in Samarra sparked a rise in sectarian killings and overall lawlessness. For many women, though, it has become unbearable.
As Islamic fundamentalism seeps into society and sectarian warfare escalates, more and more women live in fear of being kidnapped or raped. They receive death threats because of their religious sects and careers. They are harassed for not abiding by the strict dress code of long skirts and head scarves or for driving cars.
For much of the 20th century, and under various leaders, Iraq was one of the most progressive Middle Eastern countries in its treatment of women, who were encouraged to go to school and enter the workforce. Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party espoused a secular Arab nationalism that advocated women’s full participation in society. But years of war changed that.
In the days after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, many women were hopeful that they would enjoy greater parity with men. President Bush said that increasing women’s rights was essential to creating a new, democratic Iraq.
But interviews with 16 Iraqi women, ranging in age from 21 to 52, show that much of that postwar hope is gone. The younger women say they fear being snatched on their way to school and wonder whether their college degrees will mean anything in the new Iraq. The older women, proud of their education and careers, are watching their independence slip away.
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By vet240, December 17, 2006 at 4:41 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Once again Poor Bushie has got it all wrong. Democracy in Iraq? To quote a great American tennis player, “You can’t be serious!”
Through the Bush Jr. leadership, we have set back progress in Iraq by 100 years, and perhaps he has damaged our image in the International community beyond repair.
I don’t know if the world will ever forgive us for the stupidity of our illustrious Leader.
Bush senior recently wept while discussing the first defeat of his other son Jeb. Poor old man will have to live the rest of his life with the utter failure of his other son.
The Bush family should have kept G.W. at home, or better yet, in a home.
Report thisBy Eleanore Kjellberg, December 17, 2006 at 4:25 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
“The younger women say they fear being snatched on their way to school and wonder whether their college degrees will mean anything in the new Iraq. The older women, proud of their education and careers, are watching their independence slip away”
Well, it seems that the U.S. did have some influence on the Iraq culture, females in Iraq, are now treated with the same disregard as women in the U.S.; what’s next for Iraq: porno movies, sex clubs, MTV, “Girls Gone Wild”. And if Iraqi women really become Americanized they even might lose the right to control their own reproductive system--wow--you’ve come a long way baby.
Report thisBy Ken Mitchell, December 17, 2006 at 4:02 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
One more blessing in Dubya’s great success story.
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