BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Afyaa Shaker has long dreamt of driving a car through the boulevards of the Iraqi capital.Under Saddam Hussein's isolated, repressive regime, there wasn't enough money for a car. After Saddam was ousted in 2003, Shaker didn't dare risk running into Islamist groups or Shi'ite militias who opposed the idea of a woman at the wheel.
Now, the 35-year-old is driving across Baghdad, reflecting the rapid change in social norms in a country just emerging from years of sectarian war and taking tentative steps to loosen the grip of dogmatic religious parties controlling it since 2003.
Known in the 1960s and 70s as one of the Middle East's more permissive societies, Iraq grew slowly more conservative during years of war, sanctions and hardship, a trend accelerated after 2003 as deep divisions over identity bubbled to the surface.In the dark days of sectarian carnage in 2006-07, women didn't leave home without carrying a headscarf. Young men and women thought twice before being seen together outside.
"When the religious militias were active and the range of sectarian violence was top ... most people suddenly adopted religious ideas, clothes, appearance and even behavior," said Jamal, a security guard who has been working close to a Baghdad park once famous as a spot for lovers' trysts."When the security situation improved and militias disappeared, the people also responded to these changes."
Enjoy the freedoms and protect them.
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