Iraqi Women Train as Police Officers

B A G H D A D, Iraq, Nov. 4 -- I stood behind the firing range and watched a class at target practice. Police trainees were lined up, hunched over AK-47s, in deep concentration. When instructors gave the command, they took aim. I jumped as several rounds were fired. It's a sound you never get used to.

I am not comfortable with an automatic weapon going off next to me. And I am not the only person here who is adjusting to a new environment. For most people in Iraq, this is the first time they will see women, some in traditional head scarves, with guns cocked and ready to use them.

And not everyone is happy about it.

Some 250 women have signed up to train with the Facilities Protection Services, a security program within the Iraqi police force and under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Interior. So far 100 female trainees have graduated, but getting them out on the job has been a slow process. So far, only around 20 women are working.

"We love the job and the hard work," one trainee, the mother of five children, tells me with a big smile.

Her enthusiasm and determination are echoed by the other women. "We want to work, and we want stability and security in Iraq," says another woman.

Moms on a Mission

The trainees line up in military fashion, all clad in various styles of long-sleeved gray shirts and gray pants. Some are bareheaded; others cover their heads with scarves. These pioneers of a coed Iraqi police force come in all shapes and sizes, but there really isn't an athletic physique among them. Many of them would remind you of your mother — and all of them are on a mission.

Most of the trainees I spoke with told me their families and husbands support them in their new jobs. There are reservations, they admit, from some male relatives, but the $60-a-month salary is much-needed income.

"Some of the men don't allow a lady to work — but my family and my husband gave me permission to do this, they support me in this," a woman named Senah tells me as she adjusts her green head scarf.

"I'm not married," says a younger woman in broken English, "and I must earn my own money. We are a poor family."