Years of dictatorship, international sanctions and armed conflicts affected the social structure of Iraq, It also led to a low standards of living for Iraqi women, Iraqi women are trying to gather their strength after years of wars and economic sanctions, however, these factors, damaged  the education and increased the level of illiteracy.

Stats Show that the illiteracy rate among Iraqi women is 24%, more than what it is among Iraqi men which is 11%.

There is great fear of the coming days in Iraq as a result of the increase in sectarianism, the absence of the political will towards solving women’s issues, and the restriction of the freedom of speech and women’s gatherings.

After  decade of economic sanctions (the economic blockade in the 1990s) ,  and three decades of wars the Iraqi state fields still suffer from weak management and corruption more than they were before 2003.

Violence from the past still casts its shadow before 2003, as the Baathist regime tried to turn a blind eye on many of women’s social and legal rights, and gather the support of tribal and religious leaders during the  time of economic sanctions, because the regime was in dire need for support and social funding after being weary of the insane wars, also the launch of the so-called “faith campaign” in 1997, the formation of militias such as the ”Saddam Fedayeen”, which had an extremist religious and nationalist ideology.

These conditions and the increase in violence led to the growth of extremism, particularly against women and their personal freedoms, with the rise of conservative thought in society, which made women a target for extremists. women have suffered from a severe restriction in their freedom such us moving in public places until now, the main reason is due to the regression security situation and militias criminal operations .

When women are subjected to violence and abuse, the majority of them avoid telling about the incident for fear of scandal, blame and accusations that will be against them by their families and society in general, because of the conservative ideology, as we mentioned all over Iraq. Many women face sectarian and gender-based threats , that migrant women from ethnic and religious minorities are often the weakest, women economically provide at least one family out of eight families, according to the rate of the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, and despite the fact that 71% of women in Iraq are unemployed.

With many NGOs working on developing the security and justice sectors, the results are still not encouraging at all, many women still fear the police if they are assaulted or harassed. That  women continue to witness harassment and mistreatment by the police, security men and the judiciary. Women used to remain silent for fear of punishment, this fears still exist because of tribal and customary reasons.

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