Iraqi women were once among the most highly educated and professional women in the region. The employment of women in the Iraqi job market began in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1970s and early 1980s witnessed rapid economic growth in Iraq; government policies that aimed at the education and employment of women were enforced. The Iraqi constitution was changed to ensure equal rights for both men and women.

Unlike in many neighboring Arab countries, Iraqi women enjoyed many rights - prior to the 1991 Gulf War - such as equal pay, six months of fully paid maternity leave and additional six months of half pay. They had the opportunity to work in numerous professions. Many workplaces had subsidized day care for women with children. Iraqi women could also serve in the army if they desired. Thirteen years ago, women in Iraq could easily find jobs, get married, attain higher education and obtain free health care from one of the most elaborate health care systems in the region.

Eight years of war with Iran, the 1991 Gulf War and 12 years of sanctions had a devastating effect on the Iraqi people and on the country’s infrastructure. The recent Anglo/American war on Iraq has only made things worse for Iraqi women.

According to the UNICEF, during times of war, women and children bear a “disproportionate share of the suffering.” During such periods women have little access to food, safe drinking water, primary and reproductive health care and psychological support. They also suffer in other areas such as employment and education. War often leads to a rise in gender-based and sexual violence. Due to the death of male family members, women are also forced in many cases to become heads of households and the primary care-takers of the most vulnerable, including the sick, elderly and children.

The deterioration of the health care system in Iraq with the lack of medical supplies, medicines, and the most basic of equipment, together with the poor conditions in sanitation and nutrition, have had grim consequences on the health of Iraqi women. There has been a sharp rise in maternal and infant mortality rates as a result of deficient emergency obstetric care for complications of pregnancy and delivery.

Maternal mortality rates have increased more than three-fold since the 1980s. More than half of Iraqi women suffer from anaemia and vitamin deficiencies. Up to 95% of pregnant women suffer from anaemia - something which can have a fatal effect on them and their babies. Infant mortality rates and birth defects have increased greatly and one quarter of Iraqi infants are born with low birth weight. Many women are unable to breast-feed their children due to the formers’ poor physical health; and according to UNICEF, only 17 percent of Iraqi women breast-feed during their babies’ first four months. The situation has deteriorated with the outbreak of the US-UK war on Iraq - which resulted in the interruption of food supplies and the lack of safe water supplies and electricity.

The psychological problems women are facing due to the war include high rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders.

The use of Depleted Uranium (DU) by the US during the Gulf War and the recent War in Iraq has led to a steep rise in cancer rates among Iraqi women. DU, a potent radioactive carcinogen, enters the body through open wounds, inhalation or ingestion. It then spreads through the body and becomes deposited in organs such as the liver, brain, kidneys, spleen and bones.

There has been a sharp rise in the incidence of cancer among the Iraqi population, especially in the South which experienced the heaviest bombing during the 1991 Gulf War. This rise in cancer has been linked to the use of DU-coated weapons by the US. For Iraqi women, the greatest increase has been in breast cancer, cancer of the bladder, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The incidence of a miscarriage in pregnant women is 3.2 times higher if their husbands had been soldiers in 1991. There has also been a sharp rise in the incidence of birth defects and diseases of the immune system.

Female literacy has experienced a sharp decline since the 1991 Gulf War with almost twice as many girls as boys being out of school. Iraqi girls’ drop-out rate is more than 35%. The reasons behind this high rate include working to increase their families’ income and the high cost of school supplies.

According to Rend Rahim Francke, Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation, “For the past 50 years, Iraqi women have constituted a considerable component of professional life in Iraq. They have been lawyers, doctors, professors, pharmacologists and so on and so forth; so, they have contributed professionally, and there was a great deal of freedom for women to choose professions, and acceptance of women in the professions of Iraq.”

Economic recession has caused many Iraqi women to lose their jobs and hence their financial independence. They have no other choice but to forsake their education as their efforts have turned to more vital areas such as the search for food and safe water for their children and families.

The difficulties that the Iraqi women are facing have not been made any easier by the fact that marriage rates have gone down drastically.

In times of war, it is always the weak and vulnerable - in other words, the women and children - who suffer the most. With the health of women and children in Iraq being among the worst in the world, one can only hope that their suffering will not last much longer.

Sources:

• About.com, “The Women of Iraq: Conflicts and Peace Building.”

• LaurusHealth.com, “UN Group to Aid Pregnant Women in Iraq,” March 21, 2003

• UNFPA, “UNFPA to Aid Iraqi Women.”

• UNFPA, “Experts Document Devastating Impact of War on Women,” March 5, 2003.

• Masri, Rania, “The Women and Children of Iraq Are Under Siege,” Ibiblio.

• Maynard, Hilary, “Women in Iraq: A Political Struggle,” UW Student Web Server May 27, 2003.

• AFSC, “10 Ways Women Will Be Affected By A War in Iraq.”

• LaForge, John, “Radiation Warfare with Depleted Uranium: Human Consequences, Pentagon Lies,” Nukewatch.