Iraqi women's gains set back by war
By Sara Flounders
With opposition to a U.S. war on Iraq exploding around the
world, the Bush admin istration has reached fanciful heights in
its promises to rebuild the country after a war and implement
sweeping democratic reforms. Women make up half the people.
Comparing the status of women in Iraq to the countries in the
Gulf region where U.S. military and economic power keeps
corrupt, feudal dictatorships in control shows how utterly
false are these promises.
In Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and throughout the Gulf states women
have no right to participate in any area of public or political
life. They have no right to work, drive, vote or control their
own funds. They are forbidden to be on the streets without a
veil. They cannot travel without being accompanied by a
husband, father or brother.
Women have no right to decide who they will marry, nor do
they have the right to divorce, even from an abusive husband.
They are literally imprisoned in their homes. Education is
separate and so unequal that the majority of women in oil-rich
Saudi Arabia are still illiterate. This criminal situation
confirms that the Pentagon is incapable of implementing any
progressive social changes.
In Iraq, however, in every school, hospital or government
ministry a visitor meets opinionated, confident, educated young
women. This is obvious even after years of continued U.S.
bombing and sanc tions that have strangled the economy.
Nicholas Kristof, writing in the New York Times of Oct. 3,
2002, admitted to this glaring contrast. In an article entitled
"Equality of Women: Iraq Puts U.S. Allies to Shame," Kristof
began with this comparison: "If American ground troops are
allowed to storm across the desert from Saudi Arabia into Iraq,
American servicewomen will theoretically not be able to drive
vehicles as long as they are in Saudi Arabia and will be
advised to wear an abaya over their heads. As soon as they
cross the border into enemy Iraq, they will feel as if they are
entering the free world: They can legally drive, uncover their
heads, even call men idiots. Iraqi women routinely boss men and
serve in non-combat positions in the army."
Kristof pointed out that "at the Basra Maternity and
Pediatric Teaching Hosp ital 25 of the 26 students in
obstetrics and gynecology are women. Across town, 54 percent of
Basra University's students are female."
Overthrow of feudalism
Iraq was under the grip of the British Empire until the
1950s. Until the stranglehold of the U.S. and British was
broken, the vast majority of the population was impoverished
and illiterate. The country was underdeveloped because its vast
oil reserves were totally in the hands of the big oil
corporations. All the wealth from oil sales flowed into Western
banks. Only the royal family and a narrow grouping around it
benefited.
The democratization of the status of Iraqi women and other
social gains began with the 1958 revolution. This social
explosion overthrew the corrupt monarchy and feudal landowners
whose repressive rule had been kept in place by British and
U.S. military power. Until 1958 the social position of women in
Iraq was similar to the horrible position of women in Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia today.
But revolutionary Iraq didn't have a moment's peace. The
country went through years of upheaval and several coups as
U.S. and British covert operations, sabotage, intrigue and
constant military efforts attempted to restore the status quo
ante. By 1972, however, the oil had been nationalized and the
biggest landowners expropriated. With Iraq's vast oil resources
in the hands of the state, a spectacular social transformation
happened within two decades. Many problems rooted in age-old
bias and backwardness were resolved. Iraqi women made the
greatest social gains of women anywhere in the Arab world.
Education, including university, was free. Students paid no
tuition and even received funds to continue their studies This
was a powerful incentive, especially in the education of women.
It encouraged families to keep their daughters in school and
not pull them out for work or an early marriage. At the same
time the government guaranteed jobs for women who wanted to
work. Women acquiring professional skills knew they would find
jobs in their fields. Equal pay for equal work was
guaranteed.
Health care was also free and of high quality. Mothers had
pre- and post-natal care. Working women were guaranteed six
months paid maternity leave and an additional six months at
half pay. Subsidized daycare was available at most workplaces.
Basic food and housing were subsidized.
U.S. bombs destroy women's gains
Regime change means the destruction of all the progressive
social programs that Iraq has financed with nationalized oil.
The Pentagon occupation plans call for put ting the Iraqi oil
industry directly under the administration of the U.S. Army.
U.S. occupation of Iraq will be paid for out of this
expropriated wealth. Any rebuilding will only be for
infrastructure that benefits the extraction of wealth from
Iraq.
In the 1991 war the Pentagon directly targeted the civilian
infrastructure that had been built up during a 20-year program
of investing oil revenue in modernizing the country. U.S. bombs
damaged 676 schools. They were the pride of Iraq, their hope
for the future. U.S./UN sanctions cut off all access to
imported computers, books, school supplies and professional
journals, and prevented study abroad at government expense.
Bombs and cruise missiles targeted the water purification
and sewage processing plants. The dams, the irrigation network
and food-processing plants that had modernized agriculture were
repeatedly hit. The electric grid and communications network
were destroyed.
Women, who had gained the most, were also the most
endangered by the war and sanctions.
The sanctions created wild inflation that shut down the
whole economy, brought on massive unemployment, and cut off
revenue to the public sector, the largest employer of
women.
Workers with government jobs were not laid off. But the
salaries of schoolteachers, doctors, social workers, engineers
and technicians became almost worthless. Young women, who a few
years earlier had enjoyed financial independence with a salary
of around $400 a month, suddenly found that their real wages
were reduced through inflation to less than $2 a month.
No one can live on this. Whole families pool every penny to
survive. Even though the salary is worthless, millions of women
continue to work because work means participation in society.
Despite massive destruction of the civilian infrastructure and
years of sanctions, women still struggle to maintain an active
role in society.
In every country in the world the burden of childcare and
housekeeping is still borne primarily by women. Now, without
running water, with only sporadic electricity and limited food
provided by government rations, and with sick, undernourished
children, Iraqi women face a double burden in a constantly
deteriorating situation.
Today up to 95 percent of pregnant women suffer from anemia.
Low weight, premature and sick babies are the result. Over
4,500 children per month die due to malnutrition, diarrhea
caused by water-borne illnesses, and other sanctions-related,
preventable causes. The public health system is in a state of
near total collapse from a lack of basic medicines, supplies
and equipment.
In the midst of scarcity, old traditions are more likely to
reassert themselves. Families must choose which child to buy
books for, which children can be pulled from school to work or
beg on the streets so the family can survive. After 12 years of
sanctions, more than 35 percent of young girls now drop out
before finishing primary school.
The cost at home
The Pentagon's war on Iraq will cost over $200 billion. The
cost of a long-term occupation is estimated at $1 trillion.
Here in the U.S. it is also women and children who will pay for
the war. Today over 25 percent of children in the U.S. live in
poverty. In New York City over one and a half million people
depend on food pantries to eat. Some 45 million people are now
without health insurance.
As corporate power recolonizes whole sections of the globe,
income in the U.S. steadily declines. Real income has declined
every year for the past 20 years for 80 percent of the
population.
A U.S. occupation of Iraq would be an enormous setback to
the historic gains that women have made both in Iraq and in the
U.S. Iraqi women's past achievements are an example of what is
possible when resources are used for human needs. Women of the
whole world have the greatest stake in stopping the U.S. war
machine.
Reprinted from the March 13, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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