The Women of Iraq: What Women's Roles Look Like on the Ground
When Huda answered ISIL's knock on the door, she found men outside her home. Toting guns, they asked her why her son was in school instead of fighting alongside them. Women also came to Huda's home in Mosul, Iraq on behalf of ISIL. They came to size up her 10-year-old daughter for "marriage" to ISIL soldiers.
As a widow, Huda felt she had increasingly fewer options to save her sons and daughter from ISIL's clutches. She decided to flee her home, selling everything to fund the dangerous trip from Iraq to Amman, Jordan, where I met her on a recent trip to both countries. I was there to better understand the challenges facing Iraqi women and girls, particularly those forced to leave their homes because of ISIL.
Huda is one of the many Iraqi women I met who told me how ISIL makes life hell for women and girls. The situation is especially grim for minorities -- thousands of girls and women were abducted by ISIL last summer. Throughout their captivity, many, including girls as young as seven or eight, were repeatedly raped and forced to "marry" ISIL fighters. Some have been sold as slaves and transported to various locations in Iraq, Syria and beyond.
