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Click Here to Sign the Safe Space Petition
05/25/2003
"From what really happened?"
Although Hussein's secular Baath Party created one of the world's most despotic regimes, it allowed Iraqi women personal rights and freedoms unparalleled in the Persian Gulf. Women could drive, travel abroad alone, study in universities, serve in the army and work side-by-side with men. Iraqi women, who make up at least 55 percent of the population and are among the most educated in the region, can become anything, from college professors to lawyers. They choose whom to marry and whether to marry at all.
In lawless Baghdad, however, safety is now more prized than freedom.
"We have heard of many problems for the children -- and girls in particular -- of abductions, vendettas, children of former Baathists being targeted," UNICEF's Dhayi said.
The true extent of the danger remains unclear, but many parents aren't taking chances.
"Our girls are not safe, not here, not anywhere," said retired military officer Abdel Jaba, 53, as he waited with more than 20 mothers and fathers at the entrance to al-Makasib school for their daughters to finish classes.
Like many of the parents, Jaba escorts his 13-year-old daughter, Yasmin, to school every morning and remains there until she finishes at 12 p.m. He then takes her back to their house, where she stays until the next day.
About 1,000 girls
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