Gender Analysis of the Status of Women in Iraq - Impact of the Current Conflict on the Life of Iraqi Woman

This thesis is focused on the impact of the current conflict on the status of Iraqi women. It extends my diploma thesis from the year 2007. With the aid of a comparative method, this thesis attempts to compare and contrast the situation of women during the period of Baath regime with the conditions after the US-led invasion. First of all, it discusses a position of feminism within the field of the International Relations and also a general impact of violent conflicts and wars on the situation of women. In comparison with the diploma thesis, a new chapter focused on the role of women in Muslim countries was added. Following chapter is devoted to the status of women prior the Baath regime seized the power. The core part of the thesis consists of the chapters 4 and 5 which include several sub-chapters. Chapter 4 describes the role of women during the rule of Baath regime and Saddam Hussein and it is structured according to time line. Chapter 5 deals with the situation of women in current Iraq. Compared to the diploma thesis, new data are available and a new sub-chapter focused on the period 2008 - 2010 was added. Finally, the last chapter of the thesis concentrates on the situation of Kurdish women in the northern part of the country. The main question of this thesis is: "Has the status of Iraqi women..