The Activity of Iraqi Women: Women's Associations in Iraq

The distinguished writer and pioneer of the renaissance, Mrs. Mariya al-Khoja, has sent The Woman's Voice important reports on women's activity in Iraq. We begin here by publishing this brief sketch of the Iraqi women's associations.

Despite the difficulties that barred the Iraqi woman from entering this field and working in it, she has struggled, cleared the path, and begun to render her share of duty toward the sons of her country, under the patronage of Her august Majesty the Queen Mother, who encourages every lady to social and national activity and watches over all women's projects with her vigilant eye.

The Child Protection Society — The women's branch of the Child Protection Society was founded in 1945 as an independent body, after woman had been rendering her share of service alongside man in this humanitarian field. Its work has been entrusted to subcommittees, among them the publicity committee, which bears the responsibility of publication, of printing health pamphlets for children and mothers, and of distributing them to the public; and the health committee, among whose most important works is the opening of the "Houses of Motherhood" to educate girl students and teach them the newest methods in child-rearing and the care of the mother. The lectures are delivered by a choice body of Iraq's women and men physicians; the student then graduates carrying a certificate that qualifies her to work in one of the society's dispensaries, or in homes should she be asked to work as a children's nurse.

The branch has also founded a dispensary for treating children and mothers and protecting them from disease, under the guidance of specialist women physicians and nurses; it distributes to them medicines, milk, soap, and sometimes clothing, free of charge. The branch has chosen a place for its dispensary in a quarter where the needy and the destitute abound.

The Red Crescent Society — Among the women's associations is the women's branch of the Red Crescent Society, founded in 1933, which took part in social reform through its sewing and health committees; it then ceased its work and continued only as a sewing committee attached to the general headquarters, until it was reconstituted as an independent branch in 1945. Among the branch's works is the sewing committee — which meets on Monday mornings at the society's headquarters — under the supervision of Her august Majesty the Queen Mother and Their Highnesses the Princesses, to sew clothes for poor children. The branch has spared no effort in seizing every opportunity to extend aid to the stricken, whether inside Iraq or beyond it.

The Houses of the Nation Society — The women's branch of the Houses of the Nation Society, founded in 1942, combats illiteracy, which is counted among Iraq's most vital problems. The teaching in the anti-illiteracy schools is done by the members of the society themselves, and what is taught in those schools is the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, together with guidance for the mother in how to raise her children soundly and in making her understand her worth and her social position in the country. Attendance at these schools has been good, which encourages the members in their work.

The scope of this branch has widened to a joining of efforts toward founding a shelter for girls who have no refuge; most of the workers in this society are young women who hold higher diplomas.

The Women's League Society — This society was founded in 1942; its aim is to raise woman's cultural level by means of scientific lectures, literary discussions, and the fight against illiteracy. It has founded six centers for this purpose, and the number of illiterate women enrolled has reached 150, taught by the schoolgirls who belong to the society. This society has succeeded in founding a women's magazine which it has called "The Emancipation of Woman."

The Society for Combating Social Ills — This society was founded in 1937 under the name of the "Society for the Fight Against Intoxicants," but its efforts went beyond that to work in the reformatory schools, inspecting them and submitting reports on them to the government; its name was changed accordingly.

The Friends of Art Society — Iraq has a society that gathers the men and women artists of Iraq; its aim is to raise the level of the arts of painting and sculpture and to strengthen the ties among artists. The Iraqi woman has had an ample share in founding it and in making its exhibitions succeed, through her actual participation in showing her artistic production and in conducting its administrative work.

The Ladies' Committee for Broadcasting Affairs — This committee was formed with the encouragement of the Directorate of Public Publicity in Iraq; its purpose is to gather literary, social, and artistic articles from the educated ladies of Iraq and to broadcast them from the Iraqi wireless broadcasting station in Baghdad. The committee presents to the broadcasting house two lectures and one children's story each week. One of the primary schools, moreover, gives model lessons for children in Arabic, arithmetic, geography, and other subjects, likewise over the radio.

The Iraqi Women's Union — The Iraqi Women's Union was formed at the wish of Her august Majesty the Queen Mother, who graciously took it under her exalted patronage upon the return of the Iraqi women's delegation from its participation in the Cairo women's congress of December 11, 1945. In accordance with this exalted wish, the members of the said delegation invited the above-mentioned Iraqi women's associations to hold a congress for consultation and for drawing up the Union's constitution.

The Union's purposes are: "to realize the aims of the charitable societies and to strengthen the bonds of cooperation between them and the societies in the Arab lands and the other lands of the world, and to strive by every lawful means to raise the level of Iraqi society culturally, in health, and socially."

Our Union has joined the General Arab Women's Union, which was formed on August 10, 1945, in the presence of representatives of the Arab countries, and is thereby counted among the founders of the General Arab Women's Union.

Such is the sum of the works of the women's associations in Iraq. But the women's renaissance goes beyond the bounds of schools and associations and extends to all sides of woman's social life. Unveiling, for example, is advancing with steady, rapid steps, now that the government has for a considerable time been holding mixed celebrations.