Iraqi women’s rights are eroding instead of improving in post-invasion Iraq. Women’s rights have had a prominent place in the Bush administration’s democracy rhetoric, but in reality women and children have faced increased hardship since the invasion.
The weekly news blog Alive in Baghdad stated on Monday, “As the ongoing insecurity and instability in Iraq enters its sixth year, the situation of women sees few signs of improving.”
Alternet reports that Iraq’s poverty, malnutrition, lack of health services, and a crumbling infrastructure have hit women the hardest. Seventy percent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), or refugees, are women and children. Political violence by religious extremists has also been committed against women as more rigid dress codes are being enforced. Kiani was still stoned to death on July 5, 2007. Ebrahimi’s death was stayed due to the public outcry, and last week the Iranian judiciary amnesty commission released her from prison.
CNN reports that, after having decreased last summer, civilian deaths in Iraq skyrocketed in March to 923 civilians. According to UNICEF, the United Nations’ children”s agency, modern war disproportionately affects women and children. There are more civilian casualties as a result of war today. The Iraq Body Count estimates that between 82, 625 and 90,149 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the invasion. Twenty percent of those deaths are women and children.
