Women for Women International Founder and CEO Back from Iraq: Women Want Security, Jobs and National Unity

Washington DC - Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO of Women for Women International just returned from a trip to her native Iraq. Her experiences there reinforced the sentiments of more than 1,500 Iraqi women captured in study findings released today by Women for Women International.

The situation for women in Iraq varies from province to province but, overall, the same problems exist:

89% believe that someone in their family will be killed in the next year.
88% of women thought that the separation of people along ethnic or religious lines was a bad thing. 70% of women say their family cannot afford to pay for the necessities of daily life.
76% of respondents said that girls in their family are not allowed to attend school.

“It has been five years since the American invasion of Iraq and while the mistakes made there continue to accumulate still no one has stopped to listen to what this critical mass of the population, women, have to say about solving the problems of Iraq. As I traveled the country it became clear that women know exactly what they want and what they need to take care of their families and communities. It is time to hear what the women have to say and have the humility to stop pretending that we know all the answers." Salbi says.

There is a duality to war. While men continue to steer the front-line discussion, it is the women who lead the discussion of war on the back lines, ensuring that there is food to eat and water to drink, and preserving the seeds of hope so that they may take root in a peaceful future. Once the fighting ends, it is the women who pick up the pieces of their families and mend the social fabric of their communities.

The study also found that, despite what is seen as security improvements from neighborhood to neighborhood, only 27% of women who participated in the study were optimistic that things would be better in a year. This statistic stands in stark contrast to the results of Women for Women International’s 2004 study where more than 90% of women were optimistic about the future of Iraq.

One woman who was interviewed commented, "They gave us freedom and they took from us security…but if I have to choose, I will choose safety and security."

Zainab Salbi emphasizes the need to listen to the women of Iraq and address Iraqi’s immediate economic and security needs to stabilize the country, "Peace—real peace—means that there are
schools for children to attend, and that it is safe for them to go. Peace means having three meals a day, a job, and a home to come back to. It is time for women to be involved, not just in symbolic ways, but through full participation at every level, from the family dinner table to the highest levels of the government. Strong women lead to strong nations."

For more information go to www.womenforwomen.org

Contact: Natalia Cieslik phone 1 202 492 7453

 

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