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Actually... it could of been
Iraqi women have long had greater freedom than almost anywhere else in the Middle East: women have jobs, enjoy unlimited educational opportunities, occupy high public office and travel unveiled. It is one of the many ironies of post-war Iraq that women have become less free than before. There's nothing in the new Iraqi constitution that prevents them from enjoying the usual freedoms, but the realities on the ground have changed. Iraqi politics is now dominated by Islamicist parties — Shi'ite and Sunni. And many neighborhoods are controlled by religious militias or jihadi groups. Some of them openly demand that women confine themselves to their homes. Even where there are no such "rules", many women say they feel safer staying indoors, or wearing the veil and abaya when they step out. There are still plenty of women in government offices, but in the streets I now see more and more abayas and veils than I did before the war.
-Bobby Ghosh
TIME
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