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Article: Iraqi Women Seek Bigger Roles.
- Article from:
- San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA)
- Article date:
- September 5, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 San Jose Mercury News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Maureen Fan
Sep. 5--BAGHDAD, Iraq--Everywhere you turn, men are in charge -- directing traffic, organizing demonstrations, conducting business, running schools where most of the teachers are women.
But Iraqi men may find themselves in an awkward spot if the United States succeeds in grafting majority-rule democracy onto a society with a long legacy of chauvinism and cultural divisions.
Men are the minority -- solidly.
Today, because of the ravages of three recent wars, women account for almost 60 percent of Iraq's population. And, having already tasted some freedom under a secular government in the 1970s, they are increasingly ...