TALKING TO IRAQ'S SILENT WOMEN !
Talking to Iraq's silent women
By Richard Colebourn Newsnight Producer
Little attention is paid to the plight of Iraq's women
Newsnight Iraq in depth
Women in Iraq
The dangers of working as a television journalist in Iraq became clear to Amina al-Thahabi on her birthday.
It was 2 September 2004 and she was driving a contact in her car through the streets of Baghdad. He was a leader of the local community and therefore a target for local militia.
A van pulled in front of them and opened fire. Her passenger was killed. She was hit by four bullets.
One of them is still lodged by her spine. No one in the area dared come and help.
"So I telephoned the office on my mobile and told them that I'd been hit," Amina told me. "But they didn't believe me."
Silent or wailing
Just two months after her ordeal, Amina was back at work covering post-war Iraq for Arabic TV channels and for a new Iraqi magazine. She was acutely aware of how little attention the women of Iraq receive.
Those we see in television pictures from Iraq are often either silent or wailing during the minutes after another car bomb or funeral.
The Iraqis who speak for the country, whether in the government or as leaders of the insurgency, are men.
But it's women who now cope with the social upheavals created by the war and its violent aftermath. Many are now widows.
In Iraq 11% of families are led by a woman. Often they care for a large number of children whilst also trying to work in a country with no real welfare system.
The United Nations believes that 40% of these families can call upon just £40 ($80) through combined savings and weekly income.
Too dangerous
So Amina thought it worth taking a journey through Iraq to hear from women in different communities whose lives have been turned upside down.
She took a small video camera and went to parts of the country - like Baquba or Fallujah - which are too dangerous for western journalists to reach.
She found women dealing with problems we rarely imagine.
What's it like to be a Shia woman married to a Sunni man in Iraq at the moment?
Amina interviewed one Baghdadi woman in just such a marriage who received death threats after the fall of Saddam. She and her family moved - but her husband fled the country after further threats. Now she brings up her family alone in Baquba - where life is more restricted.
"In Baquba, the situation is different. The way I dress here isn't the way I used to dress before. Now if I put on some lipstick I may end up paying for it with my life."
Remarkable strength
Amina's film contains portraits of women in extreme circumstances: women forced to pay thousands of dollars as ransom to kidnappers holding husbands and children; women receiving death threats because they teach other women to read.
Despite their difficulties they display a remarkable strength and talk of wanting to work to rebuild their country. But at the same time they feel powerless about their future.
"What we mostly care about is political news - especially the news of leaders and presidents - so that I will know what will happen in my life," Muna from Diyala tells Amina.
"By following their news, I follow my own."
It was 2 September 2004 and she was driving a contact in her car through the streets of Baghdad. He was a leader of the local community and therefore a target for local militia.
A van pulled in front of them and opened fire. Her passenger was killed. She was hit by four bullets.
One of them is still lodged by her spine. No one in the area dared come and help.
"So I telephoned the office on my mobile and told them that I'd been hit," Amina told me. "But they didn't believe me."
Silent or wailing
Just two months after her ordeal, Amina was back at work covering post-war Iraq for Arabic TV channels and for a new Iraqi magazine. She was acutely aware of how little attention the women of Iraq receive.
Those we see in television pictures from Iraq are often either silent or wailing during the minutes after another car bomb or funeral.
The Iraqis who speak for the country, whether in the government or as leaders of the insurgency, are men.
But it's women who now cope with the social upheavals created by the war and its violent aftermath. Many are now widows.
In Iraq 11% of families are led by a woman. Often they care for a large number of children whilst also trying to work in a country with no real welfare system.
The United Nations believes that 40% of these families can call upon just £40 ($80) through combined savings and weekly income.
Too dangerous
So Amina thought it worth taking a journey through Iraq to hear from women in different communities whose lives have been turned upside down.
She took a small video camera and went to parts of the country - like Baquba or Fallujah - which are too dangerous for western journalists to reach.
She found women dealing with problems we rarely imagine.
What's it like to be a Shia woman married to a Sunni man in Iraq at the moment?
Amina interviewed one Baghdadi woman in just such a marriage who received death threats after the fall of Saddam. She and her family moved - but her husband fled the country after further threats. Now she brings up her family alone in Baquba - where life is more restricted.
"In Baquba, the situation is different. The way I dress here isn't the way I used to dress before. Now if I put on some lipstick I may end up paying for it with my life."
Remarkable strength
Amina's film contains portraits of women in extreme circumstances: women forced to pay thousands of dollars as ransom to kidnappers holding husbands and children; women receiving death threats because they teach other women to read.
Despite their difficulties they display a remarkable strength and talk of wanting to work to rebuild their country. But at the same time they feel powerless about their future.
"What we mostly care about is political news - especially the news of leaders and presidents - so that I will know what will happen in my life," Muna from Diyala tells Amina.
"By following their news, I follow my own."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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