Post-Saddam Things Aren’t Looking Any Better for Iraqi Women

Amnesty International’s latest report, Iraq: Decades of Suffering–Now Women Deserve Better, found that the status of women has *not* improved in Iraq over the last two years. For all the women’s lib rhetoric that Bush likes to throw around, it’s just not true. While the war succeeded in getting rid of Saddam, it replaced him with violence & religious conservatism. Not exactly a net gain for women.
According to Amnesty, “The lawlessness and increased killings, abductions and rapes that followed the overthrow of the government of Saddam Hussein have restricted women’s freedom of movement and their ability to go to school or to work.”
And of course Iraqi women gained new threats too–foreign soldiers. Amnesty explained that, “Women have been subjected to sexual threats by members of the U.S.-led forces and some women detained by U.S. forces have been sexually abused, possibly raped.” (The Pentagon had no real response to the allegations. They claimed they needed time to review the report and determine its validity. Ummmm, yeah).
*BUT* I guess there is always a silver lining of sorts. The report also documents the emergence of several indigenous women’s rights organizations in Iraq. Too bad we won’t invest in these homegrown feminist projects instead of Bushie’s IWF exported imperialism. (sigh).
Click here to check out Amnesty’s full report.