Iraqi women take charge, becoming heads of households during war

As violence has taken their husbands, many Iraqi women have assumed new roles in an effort to keep their families safe, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Sabriyah Hilal Abadi, a mother of four from Baghdad, tells the story of a fight for her home and the search for security. At the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion, Abadi was optimistic about her country’s future. However, she quickly realized that things would go from bad to worse. After her rent skyrocketed, Abadi was forced to squat in an old Baath Party building that had been looted and destroyed. Twenty-seven other families followed in what now is essentially a large extended family occupying the building.

The families now face an order to move out, making it likely that Abadi’s son will have to drop out of college to support the family. “This is how you push young men to become terrorists,” Abadi said of the situation.

Stories like Abadi’s are common among displaced Iraqis who have been moved from place to place as a result of “a campaign to evict squatters from buildings [that] was one of the cornerstones of a plan launched last year to improve security,” the article notes.

There are over one million Iraqi widows or divorcees, and women like Abadi are often forced to find alternative living situations in hopes of keeping their families together, while also working to generate income.

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