BASRA, Iraq — Each
working morning, oil engineer Safa Al-Saeedi dons a safety helmet and heads
into a gas complex for another day challenging conservative prejudices by being
a professional woman in
Iraq.
اضافة اعلان
"Society does not accept that a girl
can live outside the family home," said 29-year-old Saeedi, who works in
Iraq's southern oil and gas fields around Basra.
Saeedi, one of just 180 women among the
5,000 employees of the
Basrah Gas Company, sees herself as a change-maker and
encourages other women to join the industry.
For many, a single woman working away from
home in a male-dominated sector is frowned upon, and it is a hard task for
women to break out of the role of wife and mother traditionally assigned to
them.
"I often hear them say to me: 'You are
almost 30, you will miss the boat! You will end up single,'" said Saeedi.
"It makes me laugh, but I do not answer."
For many in Iraq, a single woman working away from home in a male-dominated sector is frowned upon, and it is a hard task for women to break out of the role of wife and mother traditionally assigned to them. (Photo: AFP)
The female labor force participation rate in
Iraq is "one of the lowest in the world" at 13 percent, according to
a joint report last year by UN Women, the agency working for gender equality,
and the
UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).
'Discriminatory'
The 2021
UN report said surveys had found
that "most Iraqis agree that university education is equally important for
both sexes".
But it also reported that "attitudes
toward equal rights in employment are discriminatory against women".
The
World Economic Forum ranked Iraq bottom
in women's economic participation and opportunity and put it 152nd overall out
of the 153 nations assessed in its 2020 Global Gender Gap Index.
Saeedi, who graduated in 2014 after studying
engineering at university in Basra, was immediately employed by oil giant Shell
— a job that "required spending some nights away from home".
Her mother opposed the job because she was
"afraid of what people will say, and that it will affect my reputation and
my chances of getting married", Saeedi said. "It was a
challenge," she added.
But Saeedi pressed on, rising through the
ranks to become a team leader in the Basrah Gas Company, a joint venture
majority-owned by the Iraqi government, with Shell and Mitsubishi.
'Powerful and brilliant women'
Her job requires her to live on-site for a
month at a time, staying in company accommodation. After work, she plays
sport, or jogs around the huge gas storage tanks.
(Photo: AFP)
On leave, she returns home to Basra — if she
is not indulging in her passion for travel, which has taken her so far to some
30 countries.
"I hope to reach a management position,
because you rarely see women in these positions, even though Iraq has many
powerful and brilliant women," Saeedi said.
It is a tough path to follow.
"I was initially overwhelmed with fear,
because I was in a purely male environment," said chemical engineer Dalal
Abdelamir. The 24-year-old works on the same site as Saeedi.
"At the beginning, I thought that I was
inferior, that I would never have the required level. I was even worried to ask
questions," she said.
"But this job and this position has taught
me not to be afraid, not to hesitate, and not to fear that I cannot do it, but
to believe that I can."
Abdelamir joined the company via a graduate program
which hired 20 men and 10 women.
"We didn't go to Basra University
saying we wanted to recruit women," said Malcolm Mayes, managing
director of Basrah Gas Company.
"We went there saying we wanted the
brightest students".
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