The Iraqi government ordered the country’s policewomen to turn in their guns so they can be distributed to male officers—a move that undermines U.S. efforts to increase women’s participation in civil service in Iraq.
In addition to, you know, depriving gainfully employed women of meaningful jobs and being generally discriminatory, the elimination of female officers poses serious security and procedural problems.
Without policewomen, [Brig. Gen. David] Phillips said, there will be no officers to search female suspects, even though women have joined the ranks of suicide bombers in Iraq. Last week, a female bomber killed at least 16 people north of Baghdad, at least the fifth such attack in Iraq this year.
Another U.S. adviser said that forcing out female officers will hamper investigation of crimes such as rape, which stigmatizes women in Iraq, because few victims feel comfortable reporting it to men.
When questioned about the plan, an Iraqi ministry official responded, “Females are taken care of by men in this country. They are not out there being police officers.” Not anymore, anyway.
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