When we talk about Iraq, oftentimes the war's supporters say, 'We've given Iraqi's freedom.' Yes, but the point is, at what price? We hear about the bombings, the sectarian strife, the kidnappings, the lack of electricity, water, and health care.
But you don't hear much about the Iraqi women, and what they're facing. (Note: access to this article has expired, but I paid for it in its entirety.)
Across Iraq, a bloody and relentless oppression of women has taken hold. Many women had their heads shaved for refusing to wear a scarf or have been stoned in the street for wearing make-up. Others have been kidnapped and murdered for crimes that are being labelled simply as "inappropriate behaviour". The insurrection against the fragile and barely functioning state has left the country prey to extremists whose notion of freedom does not extend to women.
More:
More than 90 women become widows each day due to continuing violence countrywide, according to government officials and non-governmental organisations devoted to women's issues.
And more:
There has been a massive increase in reported cases of sexual abuse in Iraq since the days of Saddam Hussein's regime, according to the Women's Rights Association (WRA), a local NGO.
According to the WRA, there have been 60 reported rapes in Baghdad since February of this year, and 80 more cases of other types of abuse. I highlighted 'reported', because as we all know, that's usually a smaller percentage of the true number of cases. During Hussein's era, there was an average of 5 reported cases per year.
From the article in the Independent:
The women of Basra have disappeared. Three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, women's secular freedoms - once the envy of women across the Middle East - have been snatched away because militant Islam is rising across the country.
Across Iraq, a bloody and relentless oppression of women has taken hold. Many women had their heads shaved for refusing to wear a scarf or have been stoned in the street for wearing make-up. Others have been kidnapped and murdered for crimes that are being labelled simply as "inappropriate behaviour". The insurrection against the fragile and barely functioning state has left the country prey to extremists whose notion of freedom does not extend to women.
The women of Iraq are being devastated. Widows receive no help or support from the government. And if they go out unescorted by a male, they're attacked. Under the new Islamic fundamentalism, they cannot work. There are fatwas being issued banning women from driving. The Interior Ministry has warned women not to go out alone. In the south, a woman wearing slacks can be punished by death.
THIS is the freedom we've given Iraqi women?
Update: Righteousbabe has given us a
link about female genital mutilation in rural parts of Iraq.