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This is a niqab, what Iraqi women are forced to wear when they go outside, if they don't wear one, they can get hurt or abused.

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Comparing These Graphs Between Iraqi Men and Women for Schooling

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Comparing These Graphs Between Iraqi Men and Women for Schooling

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If you look closely at these graphs, you can see some differences between Iraqi men and women. For young illiterate women, 50% are not allowed to go to school because their parents don't let them, whereas for men only 15% aren't allowed to go by their parents. Their parents shouldn't let them go based on gender.

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A women named Fatima speaks at the women's center in Bnaslawa, Iraq. She is telling her story of how her relationship with her husband went from happy to bad and abusive, and how this center has helped her.

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Iraqi Women Standing Up for Their Rights

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Iraqi Women Standing Up for Their Rights

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These Iraqi women are standing up and marching  together, to say they deserve equal rights and equality throughout their society.

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Map of Iraq - Showing the Kurdistan Section

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Map of Iraq - Showing the Kurdistan Section

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The purple section is the Kurdistan section of Iraq. In this part at least one women, if not more, are killed per day.

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Dear Diary,
I keep on hoping that someday help might come to us Iraqi women. My dream is to become a doctor to help children, but it's impossible for me. Why? Because I'm a women. I am treated as if I am worth nothing. Nothing but a big, dangerous nothing. If I had the strength to stand up I would, but I'm scared that I'll get noticed by the public, if I did, most likely I would be murdered. I've been tracking all the murders of women throughout Iraq that were widely noticed by the public, here they are:
Suad al-Ali, who was a female human rights activist was shot September 25, 2018.
On October 7, two women, one an owner of a beauty parlor, the other an activist, were killed in Basra.
Rasha al-Hassan, a plastic surgeon, who was also a public figure, was killed August 23.
Rafeef al-Yassin, who was also a plastic surgeon with her own clinic died of mysterious circumstances on August 16. Authorities called her death "a drug overdose", but they haven't actually offered any updates on what they found, this leads to many rumors that she was poisoned.
What scares me most is that in all of this murder cases, the assassins appeared to be highly trained, leading many security forces to believe that these were NOT random attacks.
Also, a number of other high profile women have received death threats, and I don't want to become another.
Not only am I scared to standup, I am also confused on how to do so. I feel that many Iraqi women feel this way. They are upset with how they are being treated, but they din;t know how to express it without getting noticed. We need the rest of the world to understand what is going on and help out. Yes, the government is trying to change, but this doesn't help our abusive husbands and the assassins that kill innocent women who are just trying to stand up help others.
-Selda al-Nassar

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D. What is currently being done to address this problem? 

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D. What is currently being done to address this problem? 

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Many people want to stand up but don't know how. Some people however have found a way.
Many non-governmental organizations (NGO) serve women in Iraq and work on gender based violence there. These organizations cooperate with courts and local law enforcement to follow the few cases that make it to be examined. Even though many organizations have started to work on these cases, there is still a lot left to do.
Shokhan Ahmad, director of Women Legal Assistance Organization stated, "...authorities are not really interested in handling the murderer. The court system and honor killing-supporting laws should be amended and renewed".
Though many people are standing up to help these Iraqi women, it's not enough, we need to help them more, and the rest of the world needs to know what's going on so that they can make a difference and help.

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C. Why should the rest of the world be concerned about this issue?

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C. Why should the rest of the world be concerned about this issue?

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Iraq used to be a place where women got rights, but over time it became much less so. By the world helping women become equal in the Iraq society, not only could we really help the women, but we could also stop the murders, because at least one women is killed per day in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The women won't stand up for themselves because they are scared, these murders have sent the message "do not seek to breakout of societies traditional limitations", so we have to help them.

Many people know about the problem in Iraq, but they don't know how to stand up. They want to help the women there but they don't know how. This is proven because a man on TV said to not worry about the death of a women, because she had done bad things and he thought that she deserved to be murdered. But many people obviously disagreed, because he was pulled off of TV coverage and people tweeted against him. Also, not only have people outside of the Iraq been upset by these murders, the Iraqi society also reacted against this man on TV. The Iraqi society has also condemned the murders in Iraq and they have jumped on commentators who tried to brush off the murders and say that they weren't a big deal.

This proves that even Iraqi society disagrees with the murders, but they also don't know how to act. So we need to join together and help these Iraqi women who deserve to be treated right and to be treated equally in their society. There is still a long way to go in this fight for justice for these Iraqi women.

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Eisenstein, Zillah. “‘Leaning in’ in Iraq: Women's Rights and War?” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/2013323141149557391.html.

“Enduring Domestic Violence in Iraq: One Woman's Story.” United Nations Population Fund, 18 Dec. 2017, www.unfpa.org/news/enduring-domestic-violence-iraq-one-womans-story.

FureyMore, Anthony, and Anthony Furey. “Niqab Will Become Bigger Problem in Years to Come.” Toronto Sun, 24 Oct. 2017, torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/niqab-will-become-bigger-problem-in-years-to-come.

“Iraq Kurds: Army Claims Full Control of Kirkuk Province.” BBC News, BBC, 20 Oct. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41693143.

“Iraqi Human Rights Activist Shot Dead in Basra.” BBC News, BBC, 25 Sept. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45646528.

“It's Hard Being a Woman in Iraq.” Fair Observer, Fair Observer, 26 July 2017, www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/womens-rights-iraq-middle-east-gender-based-violence-world-news-54702/.

al-Ali, Zaid. “What Is behind the Plight of Iraqi Women?” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 10 Oct. 2018, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/plight-iraqi-women-181010132232807.html.

Women In Iraq Fact Sheet. 2012, reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Women%20In%20Iraq%20Fact%20sheet%20-%20English.pdf.

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B. How has the problem affected the community directly?

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B. How has the problem affected the community directly?

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In Iraq, not only are women treated unfairly, but they are also punished. Murdering of women has become common through Iraq. In the past four months, four very respected Iraqi women were assassinated, most of which were activists. This scared other women in the community to stand up. This has created fear among the Iraqi women, they are scared for their lives. The women that do stand up and pursue their dreams are murdered, causing the rest of Iraqi women to be reluctant to stand up and pursue their dreams, especially if this causes them to get noticed by the public.

Also, many Iraqi women are abused by men and their husbands. One women named Fatima started off her relationship with her husband well, but he turned abusive. Now, Fatima goes to a women's center, where they can help her and let her discuss what is happening between her and her husband.

Also, women are scared of the men in their country, even their own husbands. According to the 2006-2007 family health survey, one in five women within Iraq experience physical violence, whether its from their own husbands or men in their community. Adding to that, at least 14% of Iraqi women experience violence during pregnancy.

Women should not be scared of their own husbands and this isn't okay. We need to stop this and help all the women throughout Iraq.

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A. What is the problem and what are the root causes of the problem?

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A. What is the problem and what are the root causes of the problem?

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In Iraq there is a problem. This is that women in Iraq are treated very unfairly, just because they are women.

Years ago, Iraq was torn apart by war. Religious, political and economic conflicts destroyed the economy. People throughout Iraq don't feel safe anymore, and almost all those people are women. Women are the biggest victims of the problems in Iraq. They are treated as property and as if they are not truly human.

Women are treated unfairly all throughout Iraq, but some places are worse than others. Most places, women are not allowed to vote, study, or marry who they want. In some places, women are not allowed to work or go outside with a niqab on or being accompanied by a male family member. Many Iraqi women are dependent on men. Those who lost their husbands in war, they are forced to look after their families by themselves. This is extremely hard, for most of them have no mastered skills, and have never received any education, because they are not allowed to.  Women throughout Iraq are treated unfairly because they are women and this should change.