Do not harass or defame ... This is how the Iraqi woman stands with the man in the protest squares

Al-Jazeera Net - Baghdad

The Iraqi demonstrations - which started on the first of last October - were free from the phenomenon of harassment or diminishing the role of women in other countries, as they stand side by side with men to make the protest movement succeed and all the demands are met.

Perhaps this is due to the great awareness of the Iraqi protester, who has started to support and defend the cause of women, in addition to the great freedom witnessed by the girls of Eve in recent years in practicing her work without harassment through driving a car and working in work crowded with men and others.

The girls worked to help the men by healing the wounds of the young men, cooking food, cleaning the beds and blankets, and the tents of the sit-ins, etc., and they were supportive to them under the difficult circumstances they live after the security authorities' harassment through arrest, kidnapping, and others.

one team
Riyam Hassan, 23, who works with a team of volunteers to clean Tahrir Square and the nearby streets, told Al-Jazeera Net that young men and women work as a team to perpetuate the protests whose results have begun to be cleared by the overthrow of the corrupt and others, noting that everyone here has one goal, namely research Concerning a decent life, the man has a role, and the woman has a role in the protest arena.

And she confirmed that she did not monitor the phenomenon of harassment of girls at all, "We are like brothers" when the conditions were difficult at the beginning through the heavy throwing of tear gas, most of the girls were working as paramedics and nurses for the demonstrators who were injured and suffocated "But now our work has been divided between cooking and healing and cleaning the streets" in cooperation with Men.

She explained that the women in the protest yard suffered what the young people suffered through kidnapping, assassination, and harassment by security men and militias. For example, Saba al-Mahdawi and Mary Muhammad were kidnapped and Zahra Ali was assassinated, among others.

The girl pointed out that despite the great fear now of the activists, "we are still coming to the liberation square to maintain the momentum of the demonstrations, and this considered it a great achievement."

The youth’s view of the girl participating in the demonstrations, young man Ali Hussein talks about, “Our view of them is not different from our view of our sisters, we are going out to the cause of a homeland.” And what a man is exposed to is exposed to women if a large number of security men and clerics attack the students and prevent them from going out with demonstrations .

He pointed out that Iraq is one of the countries where the rate of harassment of women due to the prevailing norms and traditions of society is less than respect for women, pointing out that he saw men and women supporting each other in different classes of society, so you see the housewife, employee and civil activist working with men.

Homeland issue
As for the journalist Khamayel Al-Katib, who covered the demonstrations, she considered, in her interview with Al-Jazeera Net, that "the youth’s focus on the cause of the nation and the true demands, as well as awareness on both sides, reduces the cases of harassment."

She emphasized that the mixing of the two parties and their cooperation with each other, whether in treating the wounded or providing assistance, broke the gap and left a conscious and educated mix in achieving the demands and removing the conspiracies that are being hatched, and the repression and killing that the demonstrators have suffered so far is not a little.

For her part, activist Safed Abdel Aziz talked to Al-Jazeera Net about the conditions that they faced during the current stage, and stressed that the role of women has been prominent and influential over the past decades, and not only during the current demonstrations, although she faced a major projection to stop it through assassinations, threats and others.

And she indicated that during the current protests, some people launched a major campaign against women, urging them not to participate in them by marking "your descending of demonstrations breaks our back", especially since the protesters were subjected to a violent response by the authority, noting that the role of women was significant in resuming the demonstrations on 25 October, which is one of the main reasons for the success of the revolution, especially as young people have become aware of protecting girls.

She noted that the women had a prominent role and a summit in humanity by assisting the demonstrators, feeding them, assisting them, and others, "and I have not heard of any cases of harassment and the demonstrators have not been able to exploit this point."