ABSTRACT
This chapter portrays and evaluates Iraqi public discourse on women and gender as conveyed through the daily press during the years of the Iran–Iraq war in the 1980s. Regarding its stated political agenda, the Ba'th regime placed gender issues at centre stage throughout the years of its rule, albeit with changing connotations. While the regime initially promoted modest gender reforms, in the mid-1980s and late 1980s a notable discursive swing occurred towards more traditionalist gender policies. These changes coincided with the height of the Iran–Iraq war. The changes Iraqi gender policies underwent in the course of the years have been a considerable focus in western scholarship on Iraq. The chapter picks up on these scholarly debates by offering a close reading of the rise and demise of what might be termed Iraqi state feminism, and it locates this analysis in the context of the regime's war policies. The chapter focuses on the semi-official General Federation of Iraqi Women (GFIW), a civilian mass organization attached to the Ba'th party, and its changing relation to the regime's leadership. 1 It thereby questions the perceived homogeneity of the Ba'th regime and presents evidence for the existence of competing interest groups within the party in the mid-1980s and late 1980s at the height of the Iran–Iraq war. It also questions the image of Saddam Hussein as an almighty dictator by presenting evidence that points to a remarkable lack of normative power his regime was able to exert in the realm of gender policies.
