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 head
quarters — 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
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