IRAQ: It's her day, Women's Day

A couple hundred of the city's most elite women — and a smattering of poor women who wandered in to sell traditional bathing products (above) — made it to Baghdad's Alwiya Club to celebrate International Women's Day with music, dance and food.

The women included the city's upper crust, at least those who haven't fled to Amman or Damascus yet. Among them was the famous Iraqi actress Awatif Naeem (right), now a director and writer. She sat eating her lunch beneath a blue sky. We asked her what Women's Day means in Iraq:

It's only one day in the life of women annually. The rest of the days are the property of men. During this day we try to remind men that women are one half of the population and any marginalization of us is unfair.

Over at another table were Neda Othman, an artist in her 20s, her sister Hoda and several of their friends (above).

"Women's  day is an opportunity for the Iraqi woman to be recognized for her hard efforts," says Neda.

"And her struggle," continues her sister.

"And her patience," adds Hadeer Neja, also at the table.

"You don't know how much the Iraqi has had to suffer," says Neda, "how much we have to work to get anything. We cannot liberate ourselves by revolution. We have to do it step by step."

But perhaps the most unusual guests were a group of poor women from northern Baghdad who happened into the club just to sell some traditional bathing products — including wooden combs, dried mud and spices. They'd never heard of such a thing as Women's Day until Saturday.

"I'm Iraq," said Samira Hamid. "But I don't have a country. I eat rarely. I don't have enough money to live properly. I've lost all my dignity."

Samira and her two female friends live with their children in a single-room flat in the northern Baghdad district of Kadhemiya. One of them, Fatmeh Ibrahim Hamoud, lost her husband in a bomb attack.

"Up on the stage are happy people singing and dancing," she said. "Then there's people like us who have to work to support their children."

— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad

Photos: From top, traditional bathing products created by Iraqi women (Caesar Ahmed); Awatif Naeem (Borzou Daragahi);  Neda Othman (left), Aseel Thaer and Hoda Othman (Borzou Daragahi); Fatmeh Ibrahim Hamoud (left) and Samira Hamid sell traditional bathing products (Caesar Ahmed).