Iraqi women hoped that last year’s election would cement a larger role for them in the government. But they have less political influence today than at any time since the American invasion.

No women took part in the protracted negotiations to reach a compromise government. And despite holding a quarter of the seats in Parliament, only one woman runs a ministry: women’s affairs, a largely ceremonial department with a tiny budget and few employees.

When leading prominent Iraqi women leaders from all across the country gathered in Baghdad in June 28, 2010 they had only one question on their mind: Ela Mata? Until when? The question was directed at leading political parties engaged in negotiations over government formation after the recent elections. The group of over ninety Iraqi women from across Iraq had first met in April to highlight several challenges facing women in Iraq and produced a declaration highlighting Iraqi women’s priorities that were signed on to by over three thousand Iraqi women all across the nation.

When Iraq finally forms a new government, one thing is certain -- there will be many new faces. Only 62 of 275 incumbents were re-elected. In particular, some of the new faces will be women. By law, 25 percent of the parliament must be female. In some cases, that means replacing men who would have won seats -- which isn't always welcome news to the men.

Iraqi activist Hanna Edward agrees. She says the group of 82 women entering Iraq's next legislature are much more qualified than those in the previous parliament, many of whom were party apparatchiks. This time, it was the highest vote-getting women who got in, and a complicated system determined which men they replaced.That didn't go down so well with the men, says Edward, who says the elections committee has been deluged with letters of complaint.

Economically, women are vastly underrepresented in the work force as employment is still limited to mostly the army and the police. The Women's Ministry barely has any budget allocations, which has led to the resignation of ministers (most notably, Nawal al-Samaraie, minister for women's affairs, tendered her resignation in February 2009). Girls have a high rate of illiteracy and often drop out of schools due to economic and security reasons. Domestic violence is increasing, as is trafficking in women, and the Iraqi government estimates there are up to 3 million widows in Iraq today.