Iraq's forgotten women

After Shafeeka, 59, was forced to leave her home shortly after the war began in 2003, she began living in this home-made tent, in a dusty and isolated area of Iraq. "We have so little here. the nearest health clinic is 40 kilometres away. People have died here because they were unable to get treatment. I need a home, you can't imagine how hard it is to live in a tent but I have to be patient and hope that one day things will become better."
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Shafeeka's daily struggle to eke out a meagre living starts early each morning: "I mix clay that I manage to buy with water and hay I collect from a far-away place. I then mould it to form a furnace, which I leave out in the sun to harden. Each one I sell buys me three meals."
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Amal is a widow, forced from her home by conflict. She now lives with her children in a remote area with no electricity or clean water. For two hours of every day, they go and fetch dirty water from a broken water pipe. They have no choice but to drink, cook and wash with it.
Photo: Al-Amal Association

Nour has worked hard since her husband died, often taking on two or more jobs to look after her children without any government support. Until her son Mustafa was old enough to go to primary school, she worked with him strapped to her back – she had no choice. Much of her income goes to her children's studies; she believes this is the most important thing for them.
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Jameela, 50, works in the Wadi Al Salam graveyard near Najaf city. She sells items such as incense and candles to those who have come to mourn their dead. It's a dangerous place to work. She faces the constant risk of violence and often sees people killed and cars hijacked.
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

"My work [in the Wadi Al Salam graveyard near Najaf] is degrading, dangerous, and humiliating, but what can I do about it?" says Jameela. "To work is to preserve your honour. It is better than begging. I have been able to survive all these years and raise four children with this work."
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Shafeeka makes bricks for the furnaces that she makes as a living. "I feel proud to be a woman capable of relying on herself. It is not shameful to work. I will work until the last day of my life, but I wish I had a pension to rely upon when I am no longer able to work."
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Amal uses this battered old suitcase to store her food. As a result of the war, she is so poor that she often has to sacrifice her own food, so that her children can eat. "I bear all the responsibility for my family and work hard without eating enough for the sake of my children."
Photo: Al-Amal Association

Because of the constant violence, the situation in Nour's neighbourhood is much worse than it used to be before the war started: "Our drinking water comes mixed with sewage. There are epidemics, and trash, corpses and sewage in the streets."
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Heba's husband was killed in 2007. Since his death, she has relied on her husband's family to support her and her three children. She is learning new sewing skills with a neighbour in the hope that this will enable her to bring in an income to provide for her family.
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Since Heba's husband was killed in 2007, she has received little support from her government to look after her three children. The only assistance provided by the government is food rations, which are not enough to meet the needs of her family.
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz

Emman lost both her daughter and son when a bomb went off in November 2007, in Baghdad. Her husband is dying of lung cancer and they cannot afford to get the treatment that he needs.
Photo: Ceerwan Aziz