Forty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini founded the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is little excitement left from those times; even pro-reform forces are exhausted, except for the women among them.

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A beautician arranges products for sale at an aestethic clinic in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on October 30, 2018.For three years, Mosul’s women were covered in black from head to toe and its men had to keep their beards long. Salons were shut, and plastic surgery considered a crime.

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Taking on a sport largely reserved for men in a region with strict traditions was quite a challenge but one that both Nehaya Dhaher and young female sports fans embraced.

Sports teacher Nehaya Dhaher was living a quiet life looking after her elderly mother in Iraq’s tribal south when she was asked to set up the country’s first women’s wrestling squad.

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The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo launched the global Women, Peace and Security Index which measures women’s well-being in 2017 by assessing factors such as inclusion, justice and security in 153 countries and covering more than 98 percent of the world’s population.

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Reports from Iraq suggest that as many as five Japanese are among those detained after the fall of an “Islamic State” stronghold near Mosul. Why did they leave safe and peaceful Japan to live in a war zone?

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Radio Dange Nwe, founded and run by women in Halabja in northern Iraq, has literally been making waves in recent years. The program fights conservative ideas and helps refugee women discuss and solve their problems.

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Kurdish female fighters are the “Women of the week” in Women Talk Online. Female fighters play an important role in the Kurdish “Peshmerga” army, which is fighting tooth and nail to keep Islamic State militants at bay in Iraq and Syria.

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