Rebuilding Iraqi government, starting first Iraqi government-sanctioned domestic violence shelter topics of Feb. 23 talk by Vanderbilt Alumna, army reservist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The logistical and cultural challenges of
rebuilding Iraq and its government — including establishing needed
government-sanctioned social services for women — will be brought home
during Vanderbilt University alumna and army reservist Martha Boyd‘s
talk at Vanderbilt Wednesday, Feb. 23.

Boyd‘s lecture, “Combating Domestic Violence in Iraq,” is free and
open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. in Wilson Hall, Room 115 on
the university‘s campus. The event, sponsored by Vanderbilt‘s women‘s
studies program and the Margaret Cuninggim Women‘s Center, is part of
the yearlong series “Women In Islam.”

As a civil affairs officer in the U.S. Army Reserves, Boyd spent
nine months in Iraq working as senior adviser to the Iraqi government‘s
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, during which she helped establish
the first Iraqi government-sanctioned domestic violence shelter for
women in the country.

Civil affairs officers are charged primarily with government
rebuilding, providing humanitarian assistance and helping nascent
governments prepare to self-govern.

The shelter, which opened in Baghdad in April 2004, was in operation
until the week of Jan. 31 when interim Iraqi president Ghazi al Yawr
claimed the building for his use. The women and children that were
housed at the facility have been given temporary shelter by a U.S. Army
civil affairs unit.

An Iraqi man who worked in the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs approached Boyd last year about starting the shelter after
observing that while there were several shelters for children and the
disabled, there were not services for women who are the victims of
domestic violence.

“In the past, battered and threatened Iraqi women requested help
from the American embassy or the Coalition Provisional Authority, which
placed them in temporary facilities because for a woman to live on her
own in Iraq is unheard of,” Boyd said.

“However, an established place was needed that took into account a
number of Iraqi cultural considerations, such as not allowing men to
enter the women‘s shelter,” she said.

The concept of providing rehabilitative social services to women is
a new one for Iraq, and not only did the shelter‘s organizers have to
overcome hurdles such as finding a secure location and staff, they had
to train the shelter‘s Iraqi workers in how to provide psychological
support to women in a tumultuous period of their lives.

Providing transportation to work for the staff was another factor
for shelter organizers, although, according to Boyd, providing
transportation for employees is a common practice in Iraq right now to
ensure that they reliably arrive to work.

In addition to sharing her experiences with the shelter, Boyd plans
to talk about some of the broader issues involved in government
rebuilding, such as introducing the idea of merit-based pay — hiring
well-qualified people and paying them according to job performance.

“Typically jobs were given to family members, and employees were
paid based on their level of education and/or their years of service,
rather than job performance,” she said.

Boyd earned both a bachelor‘s degree in English and a law degree
from Vanderbilt in 1990 and 1999, respectively. She currently works as
an attorney with the firm of Frost Brown Todd LLC in Nashville. She has
been a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserves for
15 years.

For more information regarding Boyd‘s talk, contact Jennifer Hackett at jennifer.hackett@vanderbilt.edu or Alison Piepmeier at alison.piepmeier@vanderbilt.edu.

Media contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
Princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu

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