Iraqi Women in Crisis

While Iraqis and Americans are celebrating reduced violence in Iraq over the last two years, Oxfam is warning that these gains are failing to reach millions of women struggling with poverty and abuse. According to a survey by Oxfam, more than 20 percent of Iraqi widows have been victims of domestic violence and nearly half said they had seen declines in health care over the last two years and that they were getting poorer. A statement from the organization labeled the conditions a "silent emergency," trapping women in a "downward spiral of poverty, desperation and personal insecurity despite an overall decrease in violence in the country."