Women in Iraq

This article on the Iraqi Women deals with the women’s social status and rights in the region of the Middle East but more specifically in Iraq, a state where women’s rights have been quite controversial and ambiguous. In general, women in the Middle East have been under many changes and despite the feminist movement that begun in Europe and the United States during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, inequalities on women were still quite obvious. However, in Iraq things were fairly different since even though Iraq had always been considered to be a quite liberal state, its religion, rulers and later the US invasion in Iraq changed women’s position and rights. Moreover, like Valentine M. Moghadam argues”middle-class women in the Middle East [in general] are consciously and unconsciously major agents of change in the region, at the vanguard of the movement to modernity” [Valentine M. Moghadam, Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. (Lynne Rienner Publishers, United States of America, 1993), xiii]

Historical Background

In order to be able to note any achievements in the women’s roles in the society is very important to look at the historical background of their position in the society and how wars and successions in dynasties and governments affected their role.During the seventh century the Arabs as a part of their conquest were fighting Persians, who were defeated. As Doreen Ingrams noticed, “Arab women [were] shown in the mutual tending the wounded or burying the dead. They [were] wearing black clothes similar in design to those worn by the soldiers, however, are in white. In the early deays of Islam [women] were considered to be ‘partners’ both in war and in peace”(p. 20). It was a time when women’s help was needed. In particular, a woman called Amina bint Qais “at the age of seventeen was the youngest woman to lead a medical team in one of these early battles [Doreen Insgrams, The Awakened: Women in Iraq. (Third World Centre for Research and Publishing Ltd., Lebanon, 1983),21] . After their win, the Arabs that begun ruling that country, named it Iraq. In the AD 750, during the Abbasid dynasty, women “became renowned for their brains as well as their beauty”(p. 22). However, even then many girls were being captured as slaves. Despite that fact, “many of the well known women of the time were slave girls who had been trained form childhood in music, dancing and poetry. Mahbuba was one of these. Another feminine figure to be remembered for her achievements was Tawaddud “a slave girl who was said to have been bought at great cost by Haroun al Rasid because she had passed her examinations by the most eminent scholars in astronomy, medicine, law, philosophy, music, history, Arabic grammar, literature, theology and chess” (p. 23). Moreover, among the most prominent feminine figures was Shuhda who was known as “the Scholar” or “the Pride of Women” during the twelfth century in Baghdad. Despite the recognition of women’s aptitudes during the Abbasid dynasty, all these were reversed in 1258 when Baghdad was attacked by the Mongols. After that, the city of Baghdad was “given over to an orgy of massacre, plunder and devastation […] ” [Anthony Nutting, The Arabs. (Hollis and Carter, 1964), p. 196] . With the departure of the Mongols a succession of Persian rivalries followed until 1953, when the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman captured Baghdad and its provinces, which became parts of the Turkish empire [Doreen Insgrams, The Awakened: Women in Iraq. (Third World Centre for Research and Publishing Ltd., Lebanon, 1983), 25] . The Turks “had inflexible rules concerning women. They enforced the segregation of the sexes, the education of girls was limited and any importance attached to women was generally attributable to the positions held by their husbands”. However, all these ended when with the fall of the Turks, “Britain was given the Mandate for administering Iraq by the League of Nations” and therefore a new era begins in Iraq under the British rule. In the 1920’s there was a “major uprising were women took part”(p. 27). The role of women, however, was two folded, on the one hand they had to support their men to take part in rebellions and on the other hand, their role was of a great importance since they were taking part in the “national awakening” even though their participation and help was not so obvious. In 1932, Iraq was declared independent and in 1958 was declared a Republic as a member of the League of Nations. As Doreen Ingrams argues instability was dominating the region until 1968 when “the Ba’th Party took control over the President Al Bakr and Iraq began to enjoy a period of stability” (28). Al Bakr succeeded Saddam Hussein who became a President in 1979.

The Quran

“O Man, fear your Lord, who hath created you soul out of one man,And out of him created his mate, and from the two hath multiplied many men and women […] and respect women, who have borne you, for God is watching you” [(Quran, Sura Women) the English translation of the Quran are by George Sale (Frederick Warne, n.d.)] According to the Quran, women are equal to men and are supposed to be respected and have the same rights. However, as Doreen Ingrams argue, “contrary to the teaching of the Quran which stipulates that a girl should agree to her marriage, traditionally a girl could be compelled to marry a man chosen for her by her parents whether she wished to marry him or not” [Doreen Insgrams, The Awakened: Women in Iraq. (Third World Centre for Research and Publishing Ltd., Lebanon, 1983),106] . Furthermore, according to the Quran, “Men shall have the pre-eminence over women, because of those advantages wherein God hath caused the one of them to excel the other”(Ingrams, 46)

The Quran, that is the holy book of the scriptures, God makes it clear that both sexes are equal and none should violate that right. Nevertheless, the Quran, as we can see throughout the history of the status of the Iraqi women is disregarded and violated by each government.

The Veil

The Veil was considered to play a major role in the Muslim culture. Like Valentine M. Moghamad argues, "the veil or not to veil is a recurring issue in Muslim countries. Polemics surrounding hijab(modest Islamic dress for women) abound in every country" [Valentine M. Moghadam. "Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. (Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 1993), 25"] . In general, despite its lost significance, Doreen Insgrams argues that even though "many women are still veilled, [...] the veil has lost its significance and has become nothing more than a habit that some find difficult to discard" [Doreen Insgrams, The Awakened: Women in Iraq. (Third World Centre for Research and Publishing Ltd., Lebanon, 1983),87] . However,since the US invasion, that is since 2003 "Iraqi women have been brutally attacked, kidnapped and intimidated from participating in the Iraqi society" [Ghali Hassan, 'How the US Erase Women's Rights in Iraq', (Global Research, October, 2005)] . Another attack on women's rights was done by Yanar Mohammed, an Iraqi feminist who "asserts unequivocally that war and occupation have cost Iraqi women their legal standing and their everyday freedom of dress and movement" [Guernica, 'First Victims of Freedom (Magazine of Arts and Politics, May, 2007)] . She continues by arguing that "The first losers in all these were women" [Ibid] . According to that situation women due to their fear of being raped and harassed are have to wear not only veil but also they are forced to wear the black dress in order not to attract soldier's attention. In an online edition of Guardian, the reporter Mark Lattiner supports that despite the US promises and hopes given towards the Iraqi population that their lives were going to change,on the contrary Iraqi women's lives "have become immeasurably worse, with rapes, burnings and murders [now] as a daily pccurence" [Mark Lattimer, 'Freedom Lost" (The Guardian,December, 2007) ] .

Women's Social Life

Valentine M. Moghadam argues that women were the first who's social life was affected by the economy and in cases of war. Especially in the "oncet of the war with Iran brought about a toughening of the state's position on women". Women were not allowed to travel without their husband or their father or guardian and their role was to bear children [Valentine M. Moghadam. "Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. (Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 1993),58 ] . In general in cases of war, as Nadje Sadig Al-Ali argues, "women carried the conflicting double burden of being the main motors of the state bureaucracy and the public sector, the main breadwinners and heads of households but also the mothers of 'future soldiers' [Nadje Sadig Al-Ali. "Iraqi Women: Untold stories from the 1948 to the Present" (Zed Books, London, 2007), 168 (] . She continue arguing that with Saddam Hussein as the President of Iraq, "in an attempt to maintain legitimacy after the Gulf War by appeasing conservative patriarchal constituencies, brought in anti-woman legislation, such as the 1990 presidential decree granting immunity to men who had committed honour crimes" [Nadje Sadig Al-Ali. "Iraqi Women: Untold stories from the 1948 to the Present" (Zed Books, London, 2007),202] . Therefore, by that the so called honour killings were then be 'legalized' and all these were a result to undermine women's roles and their social status in the society, especially during Saddam Hussein's presidency.

References