The plight of women in Iraq: Gender disparity, violence, and mental health

Abstract

Background: Generations of women living in Iraq endured three major regional wars and internal conflicts, which weakened their psychological vulnerability and social role by poverty, displacements, and loss of their beloved ones. The available literature about women's mental health is scarce and does not signify the gender inequality and gender disparity of mental disorders.

Method: During 1st August to October 2020, we explored the search engines: Google Scholar, Pub-Med, Medline, and Clarivate using keywords of Iraq, gender inequality, women's mental health, violence, and conflict, mental disorders, gender-based violence, etc. From 1792 research items, 64 articles were scrutinized for this study. We selected the most relevant studies with some available documents excluding data bout Immigrant women outside Iraq and reports from foreign military sources.

Finding: Women living in Iraq have struggled for equality and empowerment since the 20th century. For the last four decades, successive wars, economic sanction, gender-based violence, and internal conflicts have affected their development endeavors. The 2003 US-led invasion caused a loss of lives, destruction of infrastructure, and forced displacement for tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children. These atrocities increased women's vulnerability to develop or worsen the existing mental disorders. This review tries to attract world attention to women's situations in Iraq.

Keywords: Iraq; Iraqi women; mental health; review; violence.