Fear of Attack Keeps Iraqi Women at Home

[kayell]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030717/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_women_in_fear_2

By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Aisa Latif lives in a mental institution because she's epileptic, unwanted by her family. Her scarred face bears testimony to abuses suffered before Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime fell — and after, when she fell into the hands of looters rampaging in the capital.


On April 9, as U.S. troops seized Baghdad, looters broke into Al Rashad hospital and flung its gates open. Unaware of the chaos outside, Latif and other patients walked into the street. Latif, 24, was raped and, when she eventually returned to the hospital, discovered she was pregnant.


Her terrible story is one example of the fear felt by many Iraqi women, keeping them indoors, away from their jobs and their lives. Even as Iraqi police work with the U.S.-led coalition to restore law and order, women say they are afraid of being attacked on the street.


Men of all ages jam Baghdad's streets and bazaars — buying generators, refrigerators, reading newspapers, waiting in line for gasoline. Few women can be seen.

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[Skittles]

1. I'd venture to say

that to some degree, this is true for women in the entire world.