Alaa Koley-Karbala

More than seven years ago, Fatima al-Saadi, a student who was superior to all of her spouses, was only a victim of the marriage of a minor.The dreams were quickly dissipated after she left school and was forced by her parents to marry early, and her marriage later turned into a hell that ended in divorce.

Fatima (25 years), from the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, lived a difficult life, after her parents made a decision to approve her marriage while still a student in the fifth grade of science, despite her academic excellence and desire to be a doctor.

I was disappointed, says Fatima, after I left school and went to my husband's house forced, I do not know how to start my life from there and I put all my thinking in the study, and how I can return even though one of the conditions of marriage is Turki to school.

Fatima is a dentist (Al Jazeera)

Facing challenges
Fatima had no way of protesting or disapproving, only to submit to the status quo and not to object to her parents' decision, but she managed to convince her husband to return to school after two years of marriage.

She added during her talk to Al Jazeera Net, my husband's approval was conditional, that I graduate from junior high and pause, but the results of the exams showed that I got a rate of 99% and the first on the school, which raised the level of challenge and confrontation, starting from my husband and his parents, the child I gave birth and the difficulty of studying In medical school, after my husband gave me a choice between him and the study, I chose to study without hesitation.

Fatima, like thousands of girls who marry them as minors, in all Iraqi provinces, where the rates of divorce, suicide and crimes are increasing, and experts in the judiciary that early marriage is one of the reasons for this.

Fatima says that her parents felt the mistake of her marriage, and left her to study, but this view has changed and turned from rejection to large support, after accepting in the Faculty of Dentistry, the basic support came from her mother, who stood by her all the time.

After a scientific trip to study at the Faculty of Dentistry, Fatima finally graduated this year to become a doctor preparing to join the health institutions in her city of Karbala.

Fatima during a human rights workshop (Al Jazeera)

Position Weapon
Huda Hamid, a women's rights activist and social scientist, believes that nowadays the job is a weapon for Iraqi women to achieve financial self-sufficiency for themselves, even at the expense of their married life.

The life of women, according to the Iraqi activist, can not be free of obstacles and challenges, and the Iraqi society is divided on the issue of women's education in two parts, one motivates and encourages women to complete their scientific career, and the other sees it as a reason for default towards the home and husband.

She adds that some social classes have become more favorable to women with a job and profession than others, because they help the husband on the requirements of life and family.

Sometimes, as Huda Hamid stresses, because of the many preoccupations women find themselves short of themselves, they have not devoted enough time to take care of their health and beauty as some unemployed women.

Fatima during aid to protesters (Al Jazeera)


Humanitarian activist
Fatima did not stop at the completion of her studies, but emerged in many humanitarian activities and events with international organizations, inside Iraq, as confirmed by her colleague Mariam Brahimi.

Brahimi adds to the island Net that she got to know Fatima in the first period after her divorce, and saw how she did not stop, but entered and worked in different areas and formed a volunteer team.

It is also an example of successful women, she says, creating the challenge on her own and without waiting for anyone's support.

Early and minor marriages are among the leading causes of divorce in Iraq, as well as other important reasons such as the economic situation.

According to statistics of the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq, it revealed that it recorded 73 thousand cases of divorce in 2018, in various cities of Iraq, the capital Baghdad topped the list.

According to government statistics, divorce rates are expected to rise until 2020 to one million divorces, a dangerous indicator according to observers and experts in the field of law.