OWFI
  • About OWFI
    • OWFI Updates
  • ON THE GROUND
    • Sheltering
    • NATWI - Anti Trafficking
    • Feminist School
    • Legislative Reform
    • Documentation
  • ON THE AIR
  • Contact
Picture

Since 2003, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) has represented a non-compromising feminist voice to challenge the growing patriarchal, tribal, and religious institutions gaining ground in Iraq, and to combat the rise of the misogynistic groups like ISIS.

We are anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and staunchly feminist. 

Picture

OWFI's activities operate on three levels:

1. Immediate protecting and
empowering individual women

Picture
We shelter women in safe houses and or/rooms and help them rebuild their lives, while training those who are interested to become feminist leaders.

2. Shifting social norms
Picture
We produce media content to shift public attitudes towards opposing patriarchy and supporting women's rights.

3. Reforming the legal system
Picture
We monitor, document and raise awareness to change laws, practices and policies that compromise women’s safety, freedom and dignity.

All these components of our work are interdependent on each other in the effort to redress the extensive violence against the women of Iraq. Click on each activity to learn more, or visit our "On the Ground" section for more information about our efforts in the region.
OWFI ON THE GROUND

How OWFI Came To Be

A group of Iraqi women met in Toronto in 1998 under the name Defense of Iraqi Women’s Rights (DIWR) and devised a mandate for defending Iraqi women’s rights from being fully aborted by the growing extremist patriarchal practices in Iraq since the US sanctions in 1991.

The subsequent 2003 American invasion and occupation of Iraq was a shocking moment of urgency that compelled one of the organizers, Yanar Mohammed, to travel to Iraq and found the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).

On June 22, 2003 we launched our founding event in Al Hiwar Art Gallery in Baghdad’s Al Waziriya neighbourhood. Eventually we registered with the coalition provisional authorities as ‘NGO 567’.

Picture


Connect with OWFI

Picture
Arabic
Picture
English
Picture
Radio
Picture
Journal

Donate to our
efforts in Iraq

We warmly welcome and appreciate your generosity and support to OWFI and to the Iraqi women we protect. Your financial contribution will support OWFI’s work on the ground including funding the Feminist School, the Al Mousawat Radio production, and  emergency rescue expenses. We also use these resources to bridge the funding gaps for the ongoing and increasing expenses of sheltering, providing medical and psycho-social services, food, clean water and clothes for the thousands of families we work with.

  • About OWFI
    • OWFI Updates
  • ON THE GROUND
    • Sheltering
    • NATWI - Anti Trafficking
    • Feminist School
    • Legislative Reform
    • Documentation
  • ON THE AIR
  • Contact