Casualties of War: Iraqi Women's Rights and Reality Then and Now

A panel discussion hosted by the Network Women's Program and co-sponsored by V-Day, a nonprofit organization active in the global movement to stop violence against women and girls.

Background: Women in Iraq

Iraq was once one of the most modern and permissive societies in the Middle East. Upper-class women began to enter the country’s job market in the 1920s and 1930s, and for much of Saddam Hussein’s reign Iraqi women enjoyed relative freedom. In 1979, the Iraqi constitution declared all women and men equal before the law. Compulsory education through age 16 enabled women in Iraq to become the most educated and professional in the region, and working outside the home became the norm. Iraqi mothers received generous maternity leave, and in 1980 women could vote and run for election. In the early 80s, women made up 40 percent of the nation’s work force. The Unified Labor Code called for equal pay, benefits and promotions for men and women.

United Nations sanctions after the 1991 Gulf War affected Iraqi women and children in particular. Simultaneously, in an effort to gain support of other Arab countries, Saddam Hussein allowed a shift toward the observance of Islamic law (shari’a), and he gave tribal leaders freedom to act upon traditional tribal codes. In 1990, Hussein amended a law allowing honor killings without penalty: men who killed female relatives for arguing with their husbands, for adultery, or for having been raped, were subsequently exempt from punishment.

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