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The Female Refugee Experience in Central Ohio

Roadtrip Iraq | Al Jazeera World Clip

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Iraqi Women 17 This contains the the experiences of women from Iraq. plain 2020-07-21T10:11:27-07:00
Women in Iraq.
Women were treated better during the dictatorship. Within the Arab world, they were seen as the women with the most rights. They could go to school, have a job, and travel in relative safety. After the U.S invasion in 2003, this all changed. People were happy with the new freedoms that surfaced under democracy, but felt oppressed by the violence and worsening conditions for women.

Hear from women living in Iraq:

I spoke with an Iraqi woman living in Central Ohio who experienced this shift. She told me how being a Christian woman made her a target for Islamic Extremist groups. These groups stole from, raped, and killed other Christian families in her area. This is ultimately what made her flee with her family.

In their 2008 report on Iraq, Women for Women International confirmed how bad things have gotten:
The impact of violence and insecurity can be seen in everything from statistics to anecdotes. In the worst parts of Iraq, the average Iraqi must worry about car bombs, random shootings, snipers; ethnic cleansing, kidnapping, torture, and execution by militant groups, as well as the potential for collateral damage from American or Iraqi security forces operations.
Piling onto the threat of violence is the non-violent disruption of everyday life, for instance:
- Food prices skyrocketed as a result of farmers lacking the necessary resources to plant and harvest. According to Women for Women International, the bread prices quintupled and tomato prices quadrupled.
- It is impossible to find a steady and safe job. This causes household incomes to plummet.
- School is a labyrinth of issues. Girls are threatened if they attend, no jobs are available to graduates, families can no longer afford fees, single mothers are not permitted to register their children, and the level of safety is dubious.
Women for Women International conducted surveys throughout Iraq to learn more about the living conditions of women in the country. What they found was a widespread decline in living conditions.
Iraq
Life has been difficult in Iraq for a long time. In recent history, Iraqis lived under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and the chaos that followed its downfall.
Under Saddam Hussein, there was no freedom of speech, many wars were waged, people went hungry, cruelty and persecution were common place, and those with opposing politics were assassinated. In addition, Kurds and Shi'a Muslims were the target of immense violence. The Suni minority enjoyed privileges during this time while the Shi'a majority was oppressed. The country's oil wealth was mismanaged causing a very large gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Things went from bad to worst after the American invasion in 2003. They destroyed Iraq's infrastructure and then did a bad job building it back up. Sectarian killings soared, and even more than before, Suni agaisnt Shi'a violence, and vice versa, became prevalent. The country was oppressed but stable under Saddam Hussein; after his rule was over Iraqis enjoy more freedoms but lacked safety and stability. This is due in part to the fact that Saddam's secular society gave way to a religious, ultra-conservative one. In this new society people receive death threats for the various choices they make including: how they dress, the music they listen to, and the religion they practice.

Here an Iraqi man describes what he has seen happen to his country:

Despite the heavy involvement of the international community on bringing down Saddam Hussein, refugees from Iraq have not been treated with compassion. Many countries are unwilling to accept refugees and even forcibly return some of them. These people are fleeing horrific situations like the following story shared in Amnesty International's Report on the Iraqi Refugee Crisis in 2007.
Rape of a pregnant mother from Baghdad
In October 2005 early in the morning four masked and armed men forced their way into the house of a Sabean/Mandaean family in Baghdad. The children and their father were beaten and shackled while their mother, BB, was forced into another room. There, one of the men kicked BB, who was five months pregnant, in her abdomen and burned her left arm with a cigarette. Then the man raped her. He was apparently aware that BB was Sabean/Mandaean and reportedly said he wanted her to lose the baby. She lost consciousness and woke up in a hospital where she learned that her pregnancy had been terminated due to the injuries caused by the rapist. The family then fled to Syria.

When Amnesty International delegates met the woman about 20 months after the incident, she was still receiving frequent medical treatment and traces of the burns on her arm were still visible.

Interviewed by Amnesty International in June 2007 in Syria
Once Iraqi refugees flee and arrive in nearby countries, they face a new set of challenges. The following section from the same Amnesty International report showcases these challenges.
Access to food, housing and employment

(Iraqi woman sells cigarettes on the streets of downtown Amman to make ends meet © UNHCR/P.Sands, 12 September 2006)

In Jordan most Iraqi refugees appear to attempt to meet their daily living costs – including food and housing – using their savings or by relying on financial support from friends or relatives. Some may work illegally but those who are detected are at risk of detention and possibly deportation. There is only very limited support available for those who are not able to pay for their essential needs.