Unlearn what holds us back.
Unlearn is a feminist organisation in Iraq. We write, teach and gather so that women and girls can question what they were taught to accept, and build lives on their own terms.
News
A new home for our articles, programmes and community, in Arabic and English.
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Guides
Practical steps to protect your accounts, your photos and your peace of mind.
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Essays
Everyday sayings carry big ideas about who women should be. Here are five we are ready to retire.
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Essays
Most of what limits us was never a law of nature. It was taught, and what was taught can be questioned.
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Why “unlearn”?
Most of what limits us was never a law of nature. It was taught: at home, at school, on television, in the words of people who loved us. If it was learned, it can be unlearned. That is the whole idea, and it is also the hard work we do every day, in Arabic and in English, and all of it online.
More about who we are →
What we do
Write
Essays, guides and explainers in clear Arabic and English, on the questions women in Iraq actually ask.
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Learn together
Small, safe learning circles and workshops on rights, bodies, money, digital safety and confidence.
See our programmes
Connect
A community of women who refuse to be quiet, and links to trusted organisations when someone needs support.
Find resources
We are not asking for permission to think. We are making room for it.
Words we use
The words that help us name what is happening. Tap a card to see what it means.
01
Feminism
النسوية
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The belief, and the movement, that women deserve the same rights, dignity and choices as men, and the work to make it real.
Not hating men: wanting fairness for everyone.
02
Patriarchy
الأبوية
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A social system where men hold most of the power, in families, politics and the economy, and that imbalance is treated as natural.
“The man of the house decides.”
03
Liberal feminism
النسوية الليبرالية
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Seeks equality through laws and reforms: equal rights in education, work and politics, changed from within the system.
Campaigning for equal pay laws.
04
Radical feminism
النسوية الراديكالية
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Sees patriarchy as the root of women’s oppression, and calls for changing society at its roots, not only its laws.
Questioning roles at home, not only rules at work.
05
Socialist feminism
النسوية الاشتراكية
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Links women’s oppression to class and capitalism, including the unpaid care work women do at home. Close to Marxist feminism.
Who cooks, cleans and cares, for free?
06
Intersectional feminism
النسوية التقاطعية
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Recognises that gender overlaps with class, religion, ethnicity and disability, so women face different, layered injustices.
A rural woman and a city woman don’t face the same barriers.
All 20 words
Latest articles
News
A new home for our articles, programmes and community, in Arabic and English.
2 November 2026 · 1 min read
Guides
Practical steps to protect your accounts, your photos and your peace of mind.
31 October 2026 · 2 min read
Essays
Everyday sayings carry big ideas about who women should be. Here are five we are ready to retire.
29 October 2026 · 2 min read
All articles
There is room for you here
Volunteer with us, write for us, join an online learning circle, or simply share an article with someone who needs it.
