Iraqi women : mechanisms of overshadowing, subordination and inferiorization

Abstract

This thesis uses a feminist perspective to analyse the local and global conditions that affect Iraqi women's lives and the history of women's movements. It investigates the mechanisms that overshadow, subordinate and inferiorize Iraqi women in both the public and private realms. These mechanisms of women's oppression are rooted in old and new forms of patriarchy which have taken on different forms in times of war and peace.

In this thesis, I combine reflections on personal experiences as an Iraqi who lived the majority of her life in Iraq, and research in the available literature, both political and feminist. I introduce evidence of social and religious mechanisms, state mechanisms and global mechanisms which oppress Iraqi women, including sexuality as well as violence, such as rape, blackmailing, and sex trafficking. I draw attention to women's oppression during the catastrophic effects of wars and the negative consequences of patriarchal political and economic power on women's health and security. This thesis also emphasizes women's resistance and agency, the role of women's empowerment on the grassroots level and the anticipated contribution of women and women's organizations to advance women's rights and feminist scholarship in Iraq.