Essay On Women's Rights In Iraq

Women’s Conditions and Rights in Iraq

Men and women are two wheels of the country. Both are equally important to move the country. In spite of the extremely important role of a woman in the society, women have been suffering in Iraq’s society. They have been suffering at the hand of religious ideology. Their roles are dominated and unnecessarily exploited. Women are not free in Iraq’s society. There is discrimination between male and female since an early age. A mother who gives birth to a son gets special care, but one who gives birth to a daughter receives not even food properly. Thus, the importance of sons is recognized. The parents show discrimination between sons and daughters in bringing them up or in educating them. Daughters hardly get any chance of education. They have to work hard from their childhood, whereas sons

In Iraq, the family elders typically arrange marriages for their children (Fig. 1). Family members chose women’s groom based on his social status, religion, and educational level. Woman who refuses to marry the person appointed by her family can create a pretext for punishment by her family. Those punishments range from mental and physical abuses to locking their daughters in houses. On the other hand, child marriages are still practiced and considered auspicious among tribes (USAID: Iraq Access to Justice Program 32). The average marriage age of Iraqi women in poor areas is 10, even though the law states that girls must be at least 18 to marry (Iraqi Al-Amal Association Data Base 10, 11). On the other hand, around 3 million Iraqi widows and divorced women fare worst because of discriminatory customs that often leave them without basic necessities of life and without a place in society (Iraqi Women in the Aftermath of War and Occupation