Iraqi Women:Four Years After The Invasion.

international | gender and sexuality | other press Friday March 16, 2007 10:20 by Dr. Nadje Al-Ali

Islamist militants and terrorist groups pose a particular danger to Iraqi women. Many women’s organizations and activists inside Iraq have documented the increasing Islamist threats to women: the pressure to conform to certain dress codes, the restrictions in movement and behaviour, incidents of acid thrown into women’s faces and even targeted killings.

After the U.S. invasion in 2003, many women in Basra, for example, reported that they were forced to wear a headscarf or restrict their movements in fear of harassment from men. Female students at the University of Basra reported that since the war ended groups of men began stopping them at the university gates, shouting at them if their heads were not covered

Not only students, but women of all ages and walks of life are nowadays forced to comply to certain dress codes and well as restrict their movement.

Suad F., a former accountant and mother of four children was telling me during a visit to Amman in 2006: “I resisted for a long time, but last year I started wearing hijab, after I was threatened by several Islamist militants in front of my house. They are terrorizing the whole neighborhood, behaving as if they were in charge. And they are actually controlling the area. No one dares to challenge them. A few months ago they distributed leaflets around the area warning people to obey them and demanding that women should stay at home.”

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