Saeedi, 29, (right) and Dalal Abedlamir, 24 are just two of 180 women among the 5,000 employees of the Basrah Gas Company near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Photos: AFP
Each working morning, oil engineer Safa al-Saeedi dons a safety helmet and heads into a gas complex for another day challenging conservative prejudices by being a professional woman in Iraq.
"Society does not accept that a girl can live outside the family home," said 29-year-old Saeedi, who works in Iraq's southern oil and gas fields around Basra.
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