History of Women's Roles in Iraq
In the early 1920s, upper class women began to enter the Iraqi job market, previously dominated by men. The role of women continued to expand throughout the first part of the century and was given a boost in 1970s after the Ba'athist's coup d'etat. Under the Ba'athists, a new Iraqi constitution was adopted, giving women same rights as men in political and economic spheres. The Ba'athists provided women with equal education, the right to vote, and the right to public employment. They also created the General Federation of Iraqi Women (GFIW) to enforce the women's rights in addition to literacy and skills programs. By 1989, the GFIW had 300,000 members in 21 federal branches. Women-only colleges were closed in favor of mixed gender classes. During the 1980s, Iraq had a female literacy rate that was among one of the highest in the region.
Between 1980 and 1990, new opportunities for women in the work force became available, partly due to the government's desire to be more inclusive of women, combined with the economic need to fill the void left by men fighting the Iran-Iraq war (1988).
Women began to assume positions formerly dominated by men, such as oil-contractors and military officers, and were offered the same pay under the Unified Labor Code. In addition, women were given paid maternity leave and were not forced to work at night.
The Ba'athist policies that once benefitted women came to a halt after the Gulf War. Under the iron fi of Saddam Hussein, the progess of women was reversed.
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