Pioneers: Naziha al-Dulaimi
Naziha Jawdet Ashgah al-Dulaimi (1923, Baghdad – 9 October 2007, Herdecke) was an early pioneer of the Iraqi feminist movement. She was a cofounder and first president of the Iraqi Women League 10-3-1952, the first woman minister in Iraq’s modern history, and the first woman cabinet minister in the Arab world.
Al-Dulaimi, whose grandfather had left al-Mahmudia (Between Baghdad and Babylon) and settled in Baghdad in the late 19th century, was born in 1923. She studied medicine at the Royal College of Medicine (later attached to University of Baghdad). At the age of 19, she was one of few female students at the Medical College. Influenced by colleagues who were deeply concerned with the plight of the people and homeland, she joined the “Women’s Society for Combating Fascism and Nazism” and was actively involved in its work. Later on, when the society changed its name to the “Association of Iraqi Women,” she became a member of its executive committee.
In 1941 she graduated as a medical doctor. While still a college student, she had become familiar with the ideals and objectives of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP). Nominated to the party membership in 1947, she became a full member of the ICP in 1948. In January 1948, Dr Naziha was actively involved in the popular uprising “al-Wathbah” against the colonialist Portsmouth Treaty, and in other patriotic struggles. Her increasing involvement in patriotic political work, and her growing awareness of the suffering of the people, as a result of oppression by the rulers and social backwardness, convinced her of the close interconnection between the struggle for patriotic objectives and the fight for social progress.
