The impact of Economic Sanctions

Even before this last war in 2003, there was a massive deterioration in basic infrastructure: water; sanitation; sewage; electricity. The most comprehensive sanctions ever imposed on a country (1990-2003), severely reduced the quality of life for Iraqi families. High child mortality (about 4000-5000 per month), rampant malnutrition, and epidemic diseases became part of women's every day life experiences. Many Iraqi families, including educated middle class families, were forced to sell their belongings including furniture and books. However, women's lives changed not only with respect to a drastic deterioration of economic conditions and basic infrastructure, they were also experiencing shifts in the social atmosphere and the regime's policies on women.

The Iraqi regime only supported women's participation in public life as long as it was in its economic and political interest. In the 1990s, women started to be pushed back home as unemployment rates rocketed and the state lacked the financial means to continue the provision of free child care, generous maternity benefits as well as free transportation to and from work places. Even those women who did not lose their jobs could not afford to work as the cost of transportation and childcare was more than the monthly wages they received.

The demographic imbalance between men and women (55-65% women) caused by wars, political repression and out-migration of men, led to a high rate of female headed households. Many of these became increasingly impoverished, surviving mainly on the monthly food ratio given out by the government. Polygamy, which had not been very common, especially not amongst urban educated classes, became socially acceptable and widespread as single women found it increasingly difficult to survive on their own. Other women turned to prostitution as a way to survive and feed their families.

After the Gulf War in 1991, the secular regime of Saddam Hussein relied on increased religiosity and social conservatism of the population and he portrayed himself as a devout Muslim fighting to implement Islamic values. Women were the first victims of his so-called religious campaign during which he repeatedly portrayed Iraqi women as symbolizing the 'honour' of the nation. Honour killings of women who were suspected of extra-marital sexual relation or prostitution increased dramatically during this period. Women felt increasingly pressured to display their religious adherence and moral virtue by restricting their movement in public and changing their dress codes. A growing number of women started to wear hijab. However, this trend became even more significant after 2003 as women became increasingly pressured and threatened by Islamist militias.

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