Iraqi rural women rebuild livelihoods in area visited by Pope Francis
Women play a key role in processing traditional dairy products, and there is a high local demand, but there is little recognition for the women’s work behind it.
Women are the main producers of dairy products, which are popular all over Iraq. However, traditionally, women’s work has been undervalued or neglected. ©FAO/Chedly Kayouli
On 5-8 March 2021, his Holiness Pope Francis made a historic visit to Iraq bringing messages of hope and peace to the country. During his trip, Pope Francis went to areas that have been devastated by conflict, where vulnerable rural communities have struggled to survive. The governorate of Nineveh, in Northern Iraq, is among those areas once held by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
“They gave us hours to leave," said Dhuhaa Najm Shith, one of the many women dairy producers forced to give up their homes, farms and dreams due to the conflict.
Nineveh is considered the “breadbasket” of Iraq, producing most of the country’s grain including 20-30 percent of its wheat. It is also a major centre of livestock production. The ISIL occupation of this territory between 2014 and 2017 displaced over one million people, mainly from rural areas and severely damaged the agriculture sector.
"They came back and threatened us with weapons if we didn't leave... after their insistence, we went out of the house. Me, my children and my husband's parents heading to (his brother's) house… and my husband stayed near the buffalo shed watching what happened. Then they broke the barn door to bring in a large cannon,” recalls Dhuhaa, tears nearly bursting from her eyes.
Farmers, especially women dairy producers, are still struggling to recover after returning home to find infrastructure destroyed, assets looted and livestock stolen, missing or slaughtered.