The Prague Post - Bottom of gender rankings, Iraqi women defy critics to work

EUR -
AED 4.353001
AFN 79.228717
ALL 96.954388
AMD 451.193448
ANG 2.12216
AOA 1086.917762
ARS 1741.890041
AUD 1.775633
AWG 2.136499
AZN 2.019283
BAM 1.954905
BBD 2.377182
BDT 143.704214
BGN 1.955646
BHD 0.446894
BIF 3522.394319
BMD 1.185297
BND 1.508727
BOB 8.156266
BRL 6.277925
BSD 1.180245
BTN 103.901435
BWP 15.701679
BYN 3.994721
BYR 23231.828694
BZD 2.376082
CAD 1.630045
CDF 3348.464822
CHF 0.933043
CLF 0.028634
CLP 1123.294173
CNY 8.432621
CNH 8.419979
COP 4598.503431
CRC 594.490232
CUC 1.185297
CUP 31.410381
CVE 110.214545
CZK 24.309143
DJF 210.181121
DKK 7.464458
DOP 74.00144
DZD 153.192554
EGP 57.02099
ERN 17.779461
ETB 170.389041
FJD 2.64588
FKP 0.868173
GBP 0.86893
GEL 3.202534
GGP 0.868173
GHS 14.458381
GIP 0.868173
GMD 85.341406
GNF 10236.184435
GTQ 9.047858
GYD 246.837
HKD 9.220339
HNL 30.947441
HRK 7.531139
HTG 154.429532
HUF 389.667106
IDR 19474.910111
ILS 3.934126
IMP 0.868173
INR 104.015475
IQD 1546.192168
IRR 49856.57422
ISK 142.99394
JEP 0.868173
JMD 189.680766
JOD 0.840434
JPY 173.679849
KES 153.081416
KGS 103.652594
KHR 4730.535081
KMF 491.898477
KPW 1066.746596
KRW 1637.050189
KWD 0.361469
KYD 0.98355
KZT 638.227825
LAK 25580.289592
LBP 105693.177137
LKR 356.356863
LRD 210.093821
LSL 20.499016
LTL 3.499875
LVL 0.716974
LYD 6.380998
MAD 10.591851
MDL 19.545052
MGA 5197.576749
MKD 61.506843
MMK 2488.708046
MNT 4264.023383
MOP 9.461369
MRU 47.003508
MUR 53.350596
MVR 18.146712
MWK 2046.237357
MXN 21.687626
MYR 4.968175
MZN 75.752092
NAD 20.499016
NGN 1765.535784
NIO 43.427371
NOK 11.581037
NPR 166.239793
NZD 1.983809
OMR 0.455749
PAB 1.18026
PEN 4.119214
PGK 4.933429
PHP 67.422674
PKR 334.902959
PLN 4.249599
PYG 8422.037891
QAR 4.30403
RON 5.060387
RSD 117.129247
RUB 98.621782
RWF 1710.795164
SAR 4.445827
SBD 9.739666
SCR 17.585875
SDG 712.961668
SEK 10.952533
SGD 1.513002
SHP 0.931458
SLE 27.628739
SLL 24855.097803
SOS 674.482693
SRD 45.396295
STD 24533.262709
STN 24.487241
SVC 10.327272
SYP 15410.977168
SZL 20.491446
THB 37.644808
TJS 11.106516
TMT 4.160394
TND 3.424732
TOP 2.776088
TRY 48.944709
TTD 8.01633
TWD 35.663817
TZS 2915.831969
UAH 48.572154
UGX 4134.107446
USD 1.185297
UYU 47.408297
UZS 14570.329844
VES 189.9408
VND 31259.255216
VUV 140.588315
WST 3.146273
XAF 655.648553
XAG 0.028224
XAU 0.000322
XCD 3.203325
XCG 2.127126
XDR 0.81542
XOF 655.648553
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.938361
ZAR 20.567695
ZMK 10669.09559
ZMW 27.589021
ZWL 381.665274
  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.39

    +0.29%

  • NGG

    -0.7400

    70.88

    -1.04%

  • JRI

    -0.1400

    13.92

    -1.01%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    24.46

    +0.04%

  • BCE

    -0.2600

    23.43

    -1.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    77.27

    0%

  • RIO

    -0.2800

    63.44

    -0.44%

  • BCC

    -2.7300

    82.39

    -3.31%

  • SCS

    0.0100

    16.88

    +0.06%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    15.64

    -0.06%

  • GSK

    -0.2500

    40.05

    -0.62%

  • AZN

    -0.4900

    77.56

    -0.63%

  • BTI

    -0.2400

    55.79

    -0.43%

  • VOD

    -0.0400

    11.77

    -0.34%

  • RELX

    -0.1700

    46.69

    -0.36%

  • BP

    0.2200

    34.43

    +0.64%

Bottom of gender rankings, Iraqi women defy critics to work
Bottom of gender rankings, Iraqi women defy critics to work

Bottom of gender rankings, Iraqi women defy critics to work

Each working morning, oil engineer Safa al-Saeedi dons a safety helmet and heads into a gas complex for another day challenging conservative prejudices by being a professional woman in Iraq.

Text size:

"Society does not accept that a girl can live outside the family home," said 29-year-old Saeedi, who works in Iraq's southern oil and gas fields around Basra.

Saeedi, one of just 180 women among the 5,000 employees of the Basrah Gas Company, sees herself as a change maker and encourages other women to join the industry.

For many, a single woman working away from home in a male-dominated sector is frowned upon, and it is a hard task for women to break out of the role of wife and mother traditionally assigned to them.

"I often hear them say to me: 'You are almost 30, you will miss the boat! You will end up single,'" said Saeedi. "It makes me laugh, but I do not answer."

The female labour force participation rate in Iraq is "one of the lowest in the world" at 13 per cent, according to a joint report last year by UN Women, the agency working for gender equality, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).

- 'Discriminatory' -

The 2021 UN report said surveys had found that "most Iraqis agree that university education is equally important for both sexes".

But it also reported that "attitudes toward equal rights in employment are discriminatory against women".

The World Economic Forum ranked Iraq bottom in women's economic participation and opportunity, and put it 152nd overall out of the 153 nations assessed in its 2020 Global Gender Gap Index.

Saeedi, who graduated in 2014 after studying engineering at university in Basra, was immediately employed by oil giant Shell -- a job that "required spending some nights away from home".

Her mother opposed the job because she was "afraid of what people will say, and that it will affect my reputation and my chances of getting married", Saeedi said. "It was a challenge," she added.

But Saeedi pressed on, rising through the ranks to become a team leader in the Basrah Gas Company, a joint venture majority-owned by the Iraqi government, with Shell and Mitsubishi.

- 'Powerful and brilliant women' -

Her job requires her to live on site for a month at a time, staying in company accommodation. After work, she plays sport, or jogs around the huge gas storage tanks.

On leave, she returns home to Basra -- if she is not indulging in her passion for travel, which has taken her so far to some 30 countries.

"I hope to reach a management position, because you rarely see women in these positions, even though Iraq has many powerful and brilliant women," Saeedi said.

It is a tough path to follow.

"I was initially overwhelmed with fear, because I was in a purely male environment," said chemical engineer Dalal Abdelamir. The 24-year-old works on the same site as Saeedi.

"At the beginning, I thought that I was inferior, that I would never have the required level. I was even worried to ask questions," she said.

"But this job and this position has taught me not to be afraid, not to hesitate and not to fear that I cannot do it, but to believe that I can."

Abdelamir joined the company via a graduate programme which hired 20 men and 10 women.

"We didn't go to Basra University saying we wanted to recruit women," said Malcolm Mayes, managing director of Basrah Gas Company.

"We went there saying we wanted the brightest students".

O.Ruzicka--TPP