In mid February, in Tahir Square, Baghdad, hundreds of women marched the streets chanting, “We will give our soul and blood to Iraq and only Iraq.” The Iraqi women were a sea of pink and purple, holding signs, banners and Iraqi flags as they marched. One sign read: “Women Rule the World,” another: “I can’t believe I’m still protesting this sh**.” According to Al Jazeera, three unidentified women led the march. One wore a symbolic gas mask, another wore a black hijab and the third wore a red and white keffiyeh around her head. 

 These Iraqi women, who marched in central Baghdad and Southern Iraq, were protesting a Twitter post by Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr that called for gender segregation at anti-government rallies. Prior to the post, both men and women have shared the same living quarters as they camp out together and take equal participation and leadership roles in protests, as reported by The Washington Post. 

 The anti-government rallies began Oct. 1 in response to increasing cleric corruption, poor services and unemployment. According to the Associated Press, since then, over 500 people have died from security forces that have been using live bullets and tear gas to break up crowds. 

In Iraq, a conservative majority Muslim country, gender segregation is the norm. However, the younger generation of women marched to defy the attempts made to exclude them from the anti-government uprising, thus demonstrating the Iraqi women’s desire to overcome and challenge gender inequalities. 

In previous years, according to Ayoub Harb, the head of the Middle Eastern Students Association at John Carroll, “women were afraid to speak about the inequalities and gender segregation due to the fear of being attacked and thought of pushing a liberal agenda.” 

 The women’s march marks a new era for Iraq, and has been equated by many to the Women’s March in January 2020 in the U.S. Al-Sadr responded to the protests on Twitter, saying, “We shall not be slaves to temptation and the infidel West.” 

Iraqi civil rights activists, like 74-year-old Hanaa Edwar, spoke on Iraq’s younger generation. She stated, “Taking into consideration that the challenges of violence are so great against them, but they have broken down all these tribal norms, the religious fatwa, the hegemony of male mentality against them.” 

Notably, many Iraqi men have also offered their support. During the march, they could be seen interlacing fingers in long human chains, surrounding the women to ensure their safety from potentially being attacked by Al-Sadr’s supporters, according to Al Jazeera. Male onlookers to the march sang back, “Heroes,