Iraq: Where death is the penalty for going bare-headed

international | gender and sexuality | other press Sunday October 29, 2006 18:50 by Mary Riddell

Women die at the hands of the occupying US forces; but most women die at the hands of the "Resistance". Read the full article by Mary Riddell at the link.

Where death is the penalty for going bare-headed

If our leaders are intent on finding peace in Iraq, they could begin by upholding women's basic human rights

Black is never out of fashion in Iraq. Some women, the bereaved, have not cast off their mourning robes since 2003. Others, Christians included, wear Muslim dress as camouflage to preserve their lives. Driving a car or walking bare-headed is a come-on to executioners in a country where last year's Western fashions have become this season's shroud.

These are hideous times for women targeted by Shiite and Sunni militias. As my colleague Peter Beaumont reported earlier this month, murder rates are rising for those in the wrong sect, the wrong job or simply the wrong place. In the new Iraq, there is only one way to live, in fear and enforced submission, but death comes in many forms. If the revenge killers, armed robbers and rape gangs do not get you, then suicide bombers might.