Women in Iraq

Women in Iraq
Author: Noga Efrati
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2012-01-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0231530242

Noga Efrati outlines the first social and political history of women in Iraq during the periods of British occupation and the British-backed Hashimite monarchy (1917–1958). She traces the harsh and long-lasting implications of British state building on Iraqi women, particularly their legal and political enshrinement as second-class citizens, and the struggle by women's rights activists to counter this precedent. Efrati concludes with a discussion of post-Saddam Iraq and the women's associations now claiming their place in government. Finding common threads between these two generations of women, Efrati underscores the organic roots of the current fight for gender equality shaped by a memory of oppression under the monarchy. Efrati revisits the British strategy of efficient rule, largely adopted by the Iraqi government they erected and the consequent gender policy that emerged. The attempt to control Iraq through "authentic leaders"—giving them legal and political powers—marginalized the interests of women and virtually sacrificed their well-being altogether. Iraqi women refused to resign themselves to this fate. From the state's early days, they drew attention to the biases of the Tribal Criminal and Civil Disputes Regulation (TCCDR) and the absence of state intervention in matters of personal status and resisted women's disenfranchisement. Following the coup of 1958, their criticism helped precipitate the dissolution of the TCCDR and the ratification of the Personal Status Law. A new government gender discourse shaped by these past battles arose, yet the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, rather than helping cement women's rights into law, reinstated the British approach. Pressured to secure order and reestablish a pro-Western Iraq, the Americans increasingly turned to the country's "authentic leaders" to maintain control while continuing to marginalize women. Efrati considers Iraqi women's efforts to preserve the progress they have made, utterly defeating the notion that they have been passive witnesses to history.

Women and Gender in Iraq

Women and Gender in Iraq
Author: Zahra Ali
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2018-09-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107191092

Highlighting Iraqi women's voices, this is an examination of women, gender and feminisms in Iraq in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion.

Iraqi Women

Iraqi Women
Author: Nadje Sadig Al-Ali
Publisher: Zed Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2007-02-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781842777459

The war in Iraq has put the condition of Iraqi women firmly on the global agenda. For years, their lives have been framed by state oppression, economic sanctions and three wars. Now they must play a seminal role in reshaping their country's future for the twenty-first century. Nadje Al-Ali challenges the myths and misconceptions which have dominated debates about Iraqi women, bringing a much needed gender perspective to bear on the central political issue of our time. Based on life stories and oral histories of Iraqi women, she traces the history of Iraq from post-colonial independence, to the emergence of a women's movement in the 1950s, Saddam Hussein's early policy of state feminism to the turn towards greater social conservatism triggered by war and sanctions. Yet, the book also shows that, far from being passive victims, Iraqi women have been, and continue to be, key social and political actors. Following the invasion, Al-Ali analyses the impact of occupation and Islamist movements on women's lives and argues that US-led calls for liberation has led to a greater backlash against Iraqi women.

Band of Sisters

Band of Sisters
Author: Kirsten Holmstedt
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2008-08-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0811740110

Now available in paperback. Winner of the 2007 American Authors Association Golden Quill Award. Winner of the 2007 Military Writers Society of America Founder's Award.

Iranian Women and Gender in the Iran-Iraq War

Iranian Women and Gender in the Iran-Iraq War
Author: Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2021-02-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0815655169

Eighteen months after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, hundreds of thousands of the country’s women participated in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) in a variety of capacities. Iran was divided into women of conservative religious backgrounds who supported the revolution and accepted some of the theocratic regime’s depictions of gender roles, and liberal women more active in civil society before the revolution who challenged the state’s male-dominated gender bias. However, both groups were integral to the war effort, serving as journalists, paramedics, combatants, intelligence officers, medical instructors, and propagandists. Behind the frontlines, women were drivers, surgeons, fundraisers, and community organizers. The war provided women of all social classes the opportunity to assert their role in society, and in doing so, they refused to be marginalized. Despite their significant contributions, women are largely absent from studies on the war. Drawing upon primary sources such as memoirs, wills, interviews, print media coverage, and oral histories, Farzaneh chronicles in copious detail women’s participation on the battlefield, in the household, and everywhere in between.

What Kind of Liberation?

What Kind of Liberation?
Author: Nadje Sadig Al-Ali
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520257290

"There is something to learn, literally, on every page here."--Cynthia Enloe, from the foreword "This is a fluent and highly informed account of the women of Iraq during a time of ever increasing political turmoil, economic disaster and foreign invasion. It gives a fascinating insight into the way Iraqi society really works and is far superior in quality to most of what has been written about Iraq in war and peace."--Patrick Cockburn, author of Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History
Author: Jens Hanssen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2020-11-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191652792

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle-Eastern and North African History critically examines the defining processes and structures of historical developments in North Africa and the Middle East over the past two centuries. The Handbook pays particular attention to countries that have leapt out of the political shadows of dominant and better-studied neighbours in the course of the unfolding uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. These dramatic and interconnected developments have exposed the dearth of informative analysis available in surveys and textbooks, particularly on Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria.

Education as the Driving Force of Equity for the Marginalized

Education as the Driving Force of Equity for the Marginalized
Author: Boivin, Jacquelynne Anne
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2022-01-14
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1799880265

In the USA, racism is the most widespread root of oppression. Black people in America, specifically, have suffered from centuries of discrimination and still struggle to receive the same privileges as their white peers. In other countries, however, there are other groups that face similar struggles. Discrimination and oppression based on religion, ethnicity, socio-economic status, political affiliation, and caste are just a few categories. However, education is a root for widespread societal change, making it essential that educators and systems of education enact the changes that need to occur to achieve equity for the groups being oppressed. Education as the Driving Force of Equity for the Marginalized highlights international research from the past decade about the role education is playing in the disruption and dismantling of perpetuated systems of oppression. This research presents the context, ideas, and mechanics behind impactful efforts to dismantle systems of oppression. Covering topics such as teacher preparation, gender inequality, and social justice, this work is essential for teachers, policymakers, college students, education faculty, researchers, administrators, professors, and academicians.

The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq

The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq
Author: Dunya Mikhail
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2018-03-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 0811226131

The true story of a beekeeper who risks his life to rescue enslaved women from Daesh Since 2014, Daesh (ISIS) has been brutalizing the Yazidi people of northern Iraq: sowing destruction, killing those who won’t convert to Islam, and enslaving young girls and women. The Beekeeper, by the acclaimed poet and journalist Dunya Mikhail, tells the harrowing stories of several women who managed to escape the clutches of Daesh. Mikhail extensively interviews these women—who’ve lost their families and loved ones, who’ve been sexually abused, psychologically tortured, and forced to manufacture chemical weapons—and as their tales unfold, an unlikely hero emerges: a beekeeper, who uses his knowledge of the local terrain, along with a wide network of transporters, helpers, and former cigarette smugglers, to bring these women, one by one, through the war-torn landscapes of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, back into safety. In the face of inhuman suffering, this powerful work of nonfiction offers a counterpoint to Daesh’s genocidal extremism: hope, as ordinary people risk their own lives to save those of others.