It is no secret to anyone that the working Iraqi woman is exposed to many dangers and problems in order to access her work, in addition to all that she suffers like the rest of the Iraqi people from the dangers of terrorism and some extremists who want to limit her personal freedom and interfere in the way she wears and her choice of dress.

Despite the prevailing conservative customs that make Iraqi women tend to be modest in both dress and behavior, women are subjected to verbal harassment, such as offensive speech that touches their humanity and offends them.

These harassers do not appreciate the daily struggle with the challenges of commuting to and from work and the impact of these problems on the psyche of working women.

In an interview with Mrs. Nour Saleh Sabri from the General Traffic Directorate: (“The effect of using public and private means of transportation on the mental health of women may affect four times more than on men. These psychological problems include (social phobia, psychological anxiety, low self-stem and value”).

On this subject, we conducted our survey with 20 women working in the private sector in Baghdad to find out the problems and concerns of women with means of transportation and what they face in order to access their work:

• Sahar Abdel-Rahman, a worker in the field of digital communications, confirms that women struggle a lot to get to work. She said that she do not exaggerate this matter, as the dangers of the road have become something unbearable due to the large number of suffocating crowds, and the deadly dangers that can occur in it, such as the explosion of a car bomb, in addition to the harassment that Women are subjected to some harassers who demean the dignity and humanity of women, and she believes that the government transport lines provided by government ministries to their employees are the best solution to this suffering.

• Raeda Ahmed, a teacher in an elementary school, says: She does not suffer from road and transportation problems because her school is very close to her home, but she says if my school was far away, I would definitely, and under our current circumstances, would resort to a personal and private transportation line to go to work, as I see that this It is better, especially with a trusted person, we have prior knowledge of him, such as if he is from a neighbor, a relative, or the like. I know that this is an unfortunate financially costly situation – I mean lack of confidence – and a sense of security, but our situation and our circumstances compelled us to think this way.

I would also like to add that the obstacles to accessing the workplace on foot are not easy for working women, especially since supermarket owners are displaying their goods on the street and not only inside the store.

This in itself is an encroachment on the public sidewalk designated for walking, exposing people, especially women, to verbal harassment.

• Manar Kazem, an employee at Asiacell, confirms that she has been exposed to more than one situation in public and private transportation, such as verbal harassment or doing an obscene act by some bad people, but when she got tired and could no longer bear any more of these problems, she had to resort to a personal and private transportation line In partnership with her female colleagues, she worked in order to reduce the financial cost, but this did not end the other suffering of being late in the morning for work or in the evening to return home due to the many traffic jams of cars that last for long hours due to military checkpoints!. As I do not have enough time left to do the homework required of me, I feel great pressure for this and I do not know a solution to this issue.

• We interviewed Mrs. Sarah Al-Saidi, Vice-President of the Women’s Committee in the Ministry of Transport, to express her opinion on the matter.

She replied: “It is the responsibility of the ministries and institutions in the public and private sectors to secure means of transportation by developing a plan aimed at overcoming all obstacles and difficulties to find means of transportation that facilitate their transportation.  For example, many of these institutions were able to coordinate with owners of private vehicles to transport employees, and coordination was made with them to benefit from their vehicles in the ministry’s transportation in return for wages that do not burden the employee.

The Women’s Committee in the Ministry of Transport decided to emphasize the aspect of taking into account the conditions of working women and facilitating their movement by putting their problems before the officials in the ministry to secure means of transportation and to overcome all obstacles that hinder their work”.

Women now prefer to resort to vacations or sometimes not work in order to get rid of these problems, which are an added burden because of the problems they suffer at home and work, and the heavy responsibilities that burden them. We in WAS think that the problem of the road and transportation means has simple and radical solutions if the ministries and departments affiliated with them provide the necessary lines to transport employees or allocate an appropriate transportation allowance for each employee so that she can subscribe to special lines. Just as the employee, especially the woman, has duties to perform, the state must guarantee their rights, which are simplified by the safe and dignified access to their workplace and their safe return to their home. This is one of the necessities of work and not a luxury that we can give up.

Ms. Sarah continues: “In general, the wages paid for working women are so low that they reach half the wages that a male worker receives in some governmental and private sectors of work. Most of the jobs practiced by working women are unskilled or semi-skilled, and a small percentage of female workers have skilled and technical work.

Opportunities for vocational training, skill upgrading, social and artistic activity, and occupying important and leadership positions in committees, specialized bodies, and professional and trade union organizations are still narrow for working women”.

The environment in which the negative phenomena that make the life of working women and working conditions thrive is represented above all by the heavy legacy inherited from the eras of colonial domination, reactionary governments and successive dictatorships, and the remnants of the reactionary view towards women that still dominates the minds of large circles of different social classes and groups and some heads of institutions Departments, organizations and bodies related to work issues.

Some of the gaps in legislation, regulations, and decisions regarding the issues of working women made it possible to circumvent their rights. In addition to the reasons mentioned, and perhaps one of the most important, it is the failure of organizations, agencies and departments entrusted with following up the implementation of laws and monitoring abuses and violations to address them.