I'm very pleased with how smoothly the Iraqi parliamentary elections went--there was only scattered violence. In the coverage, I noticed something odd, though: the overwhelming majority of news photos I saw of people voting were of women voting. The net effect is to imply that there is something newsworthy about the fact that women, in particular, are voting in Iraq. It assuredly is newsworthy that anybody in the country felt safe enough to venture out to polling places--but that's a separate question.

The former Iraqi regime was pretty horrible to women, as it was horrible to most of its subjects. They were exposed to the "rape rooms" and other torture. However, it's my understanding that the regime itself didn't have much interest in oppressing women qua women. Women could vote (for the only candidate, Saddam), they could enter professions (Iraq's educated class tended to be people in middle age and later, because education and training were not high among the regime's priorities since about 1980, but women rank among its engineers and lawyers), and girls could go to school.

Possible explanations include journalists' (and editors') desire for an arresting image, or their desire for an image which would be distinctively Iraqi (Iraqi and Turkish men, for instance, don't dress that differently).

Sexualized violence is far from disappearing in Iraq. Domestic violence remains common. Sexualized political violence persists too, as women and girls are kidnapped and raped in order to intimidate their families. Indeed, some freed kidnap victims are killed by their families, who presume them to have been raped--male kidnap victims, by contrast are universally welcomed back if they are returned. (Listen to this story--it's highly recommended). This is a tribal practice, which even the honor killers concede is forbidden by their religion. The proposed Constitution doesn't do much to protect women's rights. Indeed, it seems more likely that many of these de facto practices are likely to be codified as reactionaries and theocrats gain power.