Abstract
Women in Iraq are still acquiring equality and equity in various aspects of their personal and professional lives. Hence, it is essential to identify factors that influence their education, emphasizing equity as it fulfills lives with strength, success, and prosperity. This chapter presents key challenges that impede a prosperous educational climate that is fair among genders. The chapter presents cultural, economic, social barriers, and pushbacks against women's education in Iraq, the overall impact of education decline, among other factors that reduce equity for women. The author then presents various solutions and recommendations based on an analytical evaluation to achieve education access, equality, and equity for Iraqi women. The chapter calls to develop effective policies and programs that target the identified cultural, societal, and infrastructure obstacles to help improve women's education in Iraq and assure equality and equity.
TopBackground
Iraq is one country of the MENA region that include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Libdeh, & Harris, 1986). The countries share an Arabic language majority except for Iran, where Persian is the official language, Malta, where Maltese and English, are the official languages, and Turkey, where Turkish is the official language.
While most MENA countries share a common identity and features, such as the general commonality of the Arabic language, they differ in ethnicity, tradition, history, and spoken dialects of Arabic.
According to Roudi- Fahimi & Moghdam (2013) “ Access to education in the MENA region has improved dramatically over the past few decades and there have been several encouraging trends in women’s and girls’ education. For instance, primary school enrollment is often high in most MENA countries, reducing gender gaps in secondary schools in several countries.”
Key Terms in this Chapter
Equality: The right of different groups of people to have a similar social position and receive the same treatment.
Improvement: The state of being better than before, or the process of making something better than it was before.
Education: The action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university.
Development: The process in which someone or something grows or changes and becomes more advanced.
Empowerment: The process of gaining freedom and power to do what you want or to control what happens to you.
UNICEF: Also known as the United Nations Children’s Fund, is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The agency is among the most widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in 192 countries and territories.
Requirements: Something that you must do, or something you need.
Investing: To put money, effort, time, etc., into something to make a profit or get an advantage.
Social: Relating to or involving activities in which people spend time talking to each other or doing enjoyable things with each other.
Healing Classrooms: The IRC’s Healing Classrooms approach is designs and implements educational programs in conflict-affected areas. The Healing Classrooms approach is designed to develop and strengthen the role that schools and teachers play in promoting the psychosocial recovery and well-being of children and youth. It encourages an inclusive approach to education in which all children and youth are welcomed.
Culture: The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.
Challenges: The situation that is being faced with something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a person’s ability.
Infrastructure: The basic systems and services, such as transportation and power supplies, that a country or organization uses in order to work effectively.
Equity: When resources are shared based on what each person needs in order to adequately level the playing field.
UNAMI: The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq is a political mission established in 2003 by United Nations Security Council resolution 1500 at the request of the government of Iraq. UNAMI’s mandate is to advise and assist the government and people of Iraq in advancing the inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation, assist in the electoral process andplanning for a national census, facilitating regional dialogue between Iraq and its neighbors, and promoting the protection of human rights and judicial and legal reforms. UNAMI also assists the government of Iraq in ensuring the participation, involvement, and representation of women at all levels.