| Summary: |
The article examines the development of a women’s movement in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. It describe the types of activities and the strategies of different women activists, as well as highlight the main divisions amongst them. The article also discusses the various ways in which the ongoing occupation and escalating violence in Iraq has shaped women’s activism and the object of their struggles. Communal and sectarian tensions had been fostered by the previous regime as well as by the political opposition in exile prior to 2003, but the systematic destruction of national institutions, such as the army and the policy, by the occupation forces, has led to flare up of the sectarian conflict. The article concludes by evaluating women’s activism in terms of its contributions to conflict on the one hand and national reconciliation on the other.
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