Iraq's pioneering feminist

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2020

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Dr Naziha Al-Dulaimi became the first woman to hold a ministerial office in the Arab world when she was appointed to head Iraq's Municipalities Ministry in 1959. As a minister, Dr Al-Dulaimi set about clearing some of Baghdad's slum areas, creating the first public housing projects. A leading feminist, she was also the driving force behind a secular Civil Affairs Law, that liberalised marriage and inheritance laws for Iraqi women. Mike Lanchin has been hearing about her from Mubejel Baban, a friend and former colleague of Dr Al-Dulaimi - and from her nephew, Dr Layth Al-Delaimy.

Photo:Dr Naziha Al-Dulaimi, 1950s (courtesy of the Al-Dulaimi family)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast on the BBC World Service,
0:40.4	first-hand accounts of events that have shaped our world.
0:43.0	I'm Mike Lanchin.
0:45.0	And today we're going back to Iraq in the 1950s
0:48.0	to hear about one of the country's early feminist pioneers
0:51.0	and the first ever female government minister in an Arab country.
0:56.2	Her name was Dr Nasir al-Dilamey.
0:59.1	I've been speaking to two people who knew her well. In our house we used to see her as our second mom.
1:10.0	She was a magnificent lady, very conscientious, very approachable when you want to speak to her.
1:18.4	She was a leader and we looked to her as our leader.
1:27.6	That's 87 year old Mupaj al-Baban.
1:30.4	Remembering her old friend, Dr Nasir al-Dalamee.
1:33.4	They worked together in the formation of one of Iraq's early women's
1:36.8	organizations back in the 1950s.
1:39.4	Laith Al-Dal-Dilame, Dr Nasir's nephew has equally fond memories of his favourite aunt.
	...

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