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Women are the forgotten victims
of
“These choices...are not only threatening individual families.
They are also threatening the future of
Jeremy
Hobbs Executive Director, Oxfam International
A surge of state aid for women and
their families, investment in basic services, urgently needed; 75% of widows
interviewed not receiving pension
Iraqi women are suffering a ‘silent emergency’, trapped in a
downward spiral of poverty, desperation and personal insecurity despite an
overall decrease in violence in the country, according to a survey of 1,700
women in Iraq released today by international aid agency Oxfam.
The survey report, “In Her Own
Words: Iraqi women talk about their greatest concerns and challenges,”
is being released on International Women’s Day to highlight the daily hardships
women are facing as a result of years of conflict.
The report also calls on the government of
“Women are the forgotten victims of
A large majority of women surveyed were not receiving any state
support and had become so poor as a result of the conflict that many could not
afford to provide their families with clean water, electricity, food, an
education and medical treatment.
Oxfam and an Iraqi women’s organization, Al-Amal Association,
which conducted the survey last year, found that despite security gains some 60
per cent of women said that their security and personal safety were was still
their number one concern.
The majority of women surveyed also said that access to most
services, including drinking water and electricity, was worse or the same in
mid-2008 as it was in 2006 when levels of insecurity in
“A whole generation of Iraqis are at risk. Mothers are being
forced to make tough choices, such as whether to pay for their children to go
to school and receive healthcare, or to pay for private power and water
services. These are choices no mother should have to make, and they are not
only threatening individual families. They are also threatening the future of
The survey also found that:
·
Income was worse for 45% of women in 2008 compared with 2007 and
2006, while roughly 30% said it had not changed in that same time period
· 33%
of women had received no humanitarian assistance since 2003
·
76% of widows were not receiving a pension from the government
· Nearly 25%
of women had no daily access to drinking water & half of those who did have
daily access to water said it was not potable; 69% said access to water was
worse or the same as it was in 2006 & 2007
· One-third
of respondents had electricity 3 hours or less per day; two-thirds had 6 hours
or less; 80% said access to electricity was more difficult or the same compared
to 2007; 82% as compared to 2006 and 84% as compared to 2003
· Nearly
half of women said access to quality healthcare was more difficult in 2008
compared with 2006 and 2007
· 40% of women with children reported that their sons and daughters were not attending school.
The survey is not a comprehensive assessment of the whole
population, but does provide a disturbing snapshot of the hardships women in
The survey was completed in late May 2008. The raw data was
analyzed over the following months and submitted to Oxfam in the autumn. The
collection of individual stories, excerpts of which appear in the survey
report, was completed in early 2009, as was follow-up analysis corroborating
the validity of the initial findings of the survey.
Oxfam had staff working inside
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