Iraq was the first country in the MENA region to adopt a National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, launching its first NAP in 2014 and signaling early political will to advance women’s inclusion and empowerment in peace and security efforts. Building on this national framework, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has introduced concrete institutional measures to support women’s participation in the defense sector. In 2020, it established the Women’s Empowerment Department to enhance women’s roles across military and administrative functions. This department is also tasked with implementing Goal 12 of the MoD’s Institutional Reform Strategy, which focuses specifically on women’s inclusion, and it participates in a senior-level committee overseeing progress. Despite limited resources, the department reports a 75% implementation rate of the NAP.

While these developments mark important progress, significant gaps in representation and integration remain across the broader institutional framework. Women’s presence remains scattered across the MoD in various roles that are largely concentrated in medicine, media, administrative functions and the Women’s Empowerment Department. Notably, no women are currently deployed in the Air Defense or Infantry Command, underscoring persistent institutional barriers to full inclusion. As part of current efforts to enhance the role of women in the security sector in Iraq, the Ministry of Defense has commanded the present Barrier Assessment, which seeks to identify opportunities and challenges to advancing women’s empowerment within it. Aligned with Iraq’s National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the assessment examines the MoD’s institutional strengths and capacities, and identifies gaps in laws, policies, structures, practices, as well as socio-cultural and security dimensions that shape women’s roles, participation, and experiences within the MoD. This comprehensive analysis provides evidence based recommendations for short-, medium-, and long-term reforms to address structural and cultural barriers while promoting equity, justice and inclusion. The findings will help guide the MoD’s planning and implementation of interventions that align with the NAP’s pillars of participation, prevention, and protection, as well as establish an evidence base for the Ministry’s interventions to plan and implement a strategy for the advancement of the role of women in the MoD.