Saja al-Abayji was apprehensive about the rigorous military-like exercises and concerned about society’s opinion of women in the police force as she began her training at the police academy. She was one of just two female officers in her 2011 graduating class, which included hundreds of male officers, all aspiring to serve in Iraq’s Ministry … Read more
BAGHDAD – Learning to make yogurt, butter and cream gives 32-year-old Zainab Hazem and her Iraqi counterparts new hope they can support their families in the war-torn town of Al-Hamdaniya in Iraq’s Nineveh province. Zainab had fled her village in the Nimrud area in 2014, escaping only two hours before the Daesh group took control. … Read more
BAGHDAD- After a day’s work in an Iraq public sector job, Azhar offers legal support to women who are victims of domestic abuse, something she knows well given her experience with a brutal husband. After she was forced into marriage by family pressure, Azhar, 56, battled in court for almost a decade to divorce the … Read more
