Baghdad’s Underground Shelters Help Iraqi Women Escape Violence and Abuse

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Surprisingly, OWFI makes no attempt to disguise its official headquarters in Baghdad. In March, the white metal gate of its razor wire–fortified compound was adorned with two brightly colored posters depicting a woman screaming through prison bars, emblazoned with the words “Speak out and struggle for women’s freedom and equality.”

Samira, who asked that her real name not be used because she fears for her life, sought shelter at the Underground Railroad after enduring three months of near-daily sexual abuse at the hands of her employer and his brother. At the OWFI office, Samira can talk to a psychiatric nurse, who accompanies the women on their visits to physicians and gynecologists, and she can learn how to use a computer—a skill that would, ideally, help her find a job that will allow her to survive on her own. The activists are realistic about a woman’s prospects in wartime Iraq.

“If someone wants to marry her,” Juma says, “that’s good.”

For now, Samira spends most of her evenings cleaning the shelter: her safe haven, and her chance for a future without abuse.

“If it weren’t for this shelter I would have become a prostitute,” Samira says. “Now I feel I have a family around me.”

Anna Badkhen has reported extensively from Iraq since 2003. Her book, A War Reporter’s Pantry, will be published in January 2011 by Free Press. Excerpted from Ms. (Summer 2009), the oldest and preeminent feminist magazine, serving as a trusted source for feminist news, analysis, and politics. www.msmagazine.com 

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