Iraq's Overlooked Women
by Hind Makiya and Sawsan El Barak, Washington Post
November 30, 2024

When a doctor named Ibtisam opened her door to Baath secret agents, she was arrested and jailed for 10 years - terrified she'd never see her children again. Her crime had been bandaging the wounds of a dying man lying on the streets of Baghdad. She later heard that he had been left to die after an interrogation. She had stepped out of line by applying the Hippocratic oath of her profession. Her account is one among hundreds of thousands of untold stories of Iraqi women.

Over the past 35 years, Iraqis suffered under the rule of the Baathist regime from murder, rape, torture and disappearances. Women endured additional burdens when they lost husbands, sons and brothers to war and were left to bear family and community responsibilities alone, in a country isolated from the world.

Iraqi women have had a long tradition of higher education, successful careers and involvement in the private and public sectors. Many of us are expert engineers, doctors, lawyers and educators. We still have these professional capabilities, but our voices are not heard; on the contrary, they are systematically ignored.

We had great expectations, and we were filled with deep appreciation when the troops of the United States and its coalition of allies rid Iraq of a tyrannical dictator. We understand the deep suffering of families as sons and daughters give their lives in the military intervention. We recognize the investment - and sacrifice - the United States is making to free us to build a new democratic Iraq. But that democracy will fail if women are not involved.

It was a terrible disappointment when the Coalition Provisional Authority announced an interim Governing Council including only three women. Since the murder of Dr. Akila al-Hashimi, only two women remain. Our frustration deepened when the council announced its committee to draft the new constitution: men only. To date, five deputy minister posts have been set aside for women, as requested by Hashimi, who was a champion of women's rights.

In spite of the disappointments and the many obstacles to participation, women in Iraq have organized themselves. They have lobbied the coalition authority and the Governing Council. They have drafted petitions, staged demonstrations and started training women in civic affairs, politics and peace building.

Women's groups are opening orphanages, teaching literacy classes and coordinating immunization programs. Just last month, a Higher Council for Women was launched by and for women to increase their participation across all levels of government and to monitor the integration of the Iraqi women's agenda. Most important, the women's council will raise the voices of Iraqi women who have been silenced for too long.

Without the active role of women in the security and governance of Iraq, including the writing of a new constitution, the success of the U.S. intervention is at risk. It's a bit like buttoning a blouse incorrectly. If the first button is out of place, the rest of the garment won't fit properly. It has to be undone and re-buttoned. We want to do just that, with U.S. help.

First, we need a dialogue with the United States government and its people in which we can discuss women's role in securing the democratic future of Iraq.

On a practical level, we need funds we can use to organize and lobby for our democratic rights, to train new women leaders and to form relationships with international charitable and service organizations.

We need a revised road map for organizing elections and drafting a constitution, one framed to give an active voice to Iraqi women.

We need realistic time lines for creating a democratic Iraq, free of deadlines linked to foreign agendas like the upcoming U.S. elections.

Fundamentally, we need U.S. trust in the Iraqi people's will and ability to transform their country.

Iraqis are deeply indebted to America and Americans for support in freeing us from dictatorship. We want to learn from America's own struggle for independence so that we can write a constitution unique to our own country.

Too much is at stake to allow the waste of the resources of either Iraq's women or its men.

Hind Makiya, an educator, went home to Iraq from exile in July. Sawsan El Barak is an engineer from Hilla, south of Baghdad. Both are members of the global network Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace.

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