The awakened: women in Iraq

Iraq was the home of early civilizations and its capital, Baghdad, was renowned as à seat of leaming during the Abbasid caliphate when women played an influential part in the cultural life of the city. After several centuries of stagnation, when the Arabs came under the rule of the Ottoman Sultans, mere was à revival of nationalist sentiment at the time of the First World War. This eventually led to Iraq´s independence and the reawakening of both men and women to their own potential for seizing the opportunities available to them. The story as told m this book, of the pioneers who fought courageously for the advancement of women recluses the similar courage and perseverance shown by British women who fought for the vote or to gain admittance to exclusively male professions such as the law and medicine. The movement to improve the position of women in Iraq was supported by the Government which encouraged the spread of schools for girls, their admittance to higher education, à literacy campaign, and equality of opportunity in an fields of work. Women may now take up any career of which they are capable, from engineers to judges, pilots to artists.