IRAQ: No country for women

The improved political representation of women in Iraq is in sharp contrast to their broader disempowerment, as highlighted by the persistence of domestic violence and early marriage, according to a new report by the UN Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit. Women may hold 25 percent of seats in the Iraqi parliament, but one in five in the 15-49 age group has suffered physical violence at the hands of her husband. Anecdotal evidence alleges that "many women are being kidnapped and sold into prostitution", and female genital mutilation is still common in the north, the report notes. "The situation many Iraqi women and girls face is beyond words," journalist Eman Khammas told IRIN in a telephone interview. "Before, I was a journalist, a professional; now, I am nothing." Khammas noted an underlying political climate of intolerance that has become increasingly poisonous for women. She was forced to flee Iraq after receiving death threats that effectively stopped her - like thousands of other Iraqi women - from working. She now lives in Spain. Women's participation in the labor force has fallen sharply since 2003. Before the invasion, 40 percent of public sector workers were women, according to a report by the Brussels Tribunal, an anti-war organization. Some sectors, such as the teaching profession, were almost entirely staffed by women, Khammas said.