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Iraqi Women Endure Sexual Harassment

Increasing awareness of sexual harassment and abuse endured by Iraqi women on a daily basis has shed light on the need for social institutions to combat this kind of injustice.

A passenger walks beside a train in a train station in Baghdad May 6, 2013. Iraq's infrastructure is dilapidated after decades of war, sanctions and economic decline. In a country where piles of rubble and incomplete buildings are commonplace, almost every sector needs investment, including electricity and the sewage system. But the country is laying plans to rebuild its historic railways and become a transit hub for goods that would be shipped from Asia to Iraq’s neighbours and beyond. Iraq's railways date
An Iraqi woman walks on a platform at a train station in Baghdad, May 6, 2013. — REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen

Iraqi society stands helpless against increasing sexual harassment, despite dominating conservative values that have prevented people from moving toward social, economic and media openness since 2003.

What makes Iraq different from other communities that suffer from the same problem, however, is that Iraqi women no longer keep their silence about the sexual abuse they endure in a patriarchal society that waives their rights in many areas of life. Moreover, media outlets have started boldly approaching the problem, after timidly dealing with it initially.

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