For Iraqi women, curbs brought opportunities

Fatima Ali prepares cheese-plate takeaway, in Baghdad. Pics/AP

Fatima Ali was in her final year studying to become a medical analysis specialist when Iraq imposed a lockdown in March. Fored to stay home, she spent her days on social media, looking for something to do. Then an idea came to her: Six years ago, visiting the US, she toured a cheese factory where aged cheese platters were displayed on wooden boards.

"I said to myself, why not be the first to do it in Baghdad?" She took a free online business course. Months later, Ali, 22, is successfully marketing her cheese boards, making a small but steady income and garnering over 2,000 Instagram followers. A growing number of Iraqi women are using curbs to establish home-based businesses. It's a way to bypass discrimination and harassment that often come with working in male-dominated, conservative society.

Mariam Khzarjian takes a photo of her jewellery

Mariam Khzarjian, a 31-year-old Iraqi-Armenian, quit her job as an executive assistant in an engineering firm in late 2018, and started her own home business selling handmade accessories. She got off to a slow start. But the pandemic forced her to focus, working on new designs and techniques during curfews. The move toward online shopping helped her business take off in a way she could not have imagined.

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