This proposed paper will discuss the scope, content and challenges of the Iraqi women's movement since 2003. It will map out the various trends, groups and individual actors and their position within the contemporary political landscape. My paper will address a question which has been pertinent to my research over the past years, namely: How do Iraqi women's rights activists position themselves 1) vis a vis a new government that mainly consists of Islamist political parties; 2) the occupation which despite the rhetoric of women's liberation has failed to engage in proper gender mainstreaming and finally 3) the resistance to the occupation. While the main focus of my paper will be on the current context, I will briefly contextualize my analysis by referring to the historical development of the Iraqi women's movement before and during the Ba'th regime (1968-2003). The proposed paper is based on empirical research carried our amongst Iraqi women's rights activists in Erbil, Sulamaniya and Amman as well as London and various locations within the U.S.