I think the life of the women in Iraq could be considered worse than men just because of their status, or lack of.
Bush actually made a point of announcing a pledge to help the women in Iraq. I don't know what happened there.
I think the moment Bush announced Mission Accomplished he has tried to wash his hands of things.
I think you are dead wrong about women's status or the men being worse off.
You know , I would imagine, that women there (predominantly Muslim) are able to (according to their teachings) get jobs as men are and that the women have no duty to share any proceeds with their family, whereas the men are obliged to use their earnings to look after women and their children.
So shit goes down and the country is invaded over and over. Culture and society is shattered and jobs are limited. Now, better the men taking the limited jobs and sharing with the family or women getting jobs and not obliged to share with the family? Better men (the disposable ones) risking their lives exposing themselves to danger as the public face while the women and children (the valuable ones) stay inside the confines of the house?
What status tells me here is simply that men here are more likely to be killed, men are being killed at a faster rate than women. The society is sandwiched between Warlords and Taliban and trying to appease both. Men are trying to protect their women from both and invaders and getting killed for their efforts. The gender roles are restrictive on both and neither can get back to where they were before the string of invasions, when society there was advanced and progressive.
So status of women? Women doing it tougher than men while men are getting killed off 2 to 1?
I would be interested to see what you mean. I honestly don't see it.
I'm not going in on who has it worse, men or women in Iraq.
The war killed mainly men. In most wars that is the case, because more men are enlisted or drafted. In some countries only men will be enlisted or drafted.
A woman with a job also has to provide for her family. A country with 65% women, because of a war, will have lots of widowed mothers, with widowed relatives too. A widowed woman, with a job, may have to provide for more than just her fatherless core family, and will have to raise her kids without a father too.