A journalist had done a story on gender roles in Iraq several
years before the Gulf War noted then that women customarily walked
about 10 feet behind their husbands. She returned to Iraq recently
and observed that the men now walked several yards behind their
wives.
She approached one of the women for an explanation. “This is
marvelous,” said the journalist. “What enabled women here to
achieve this reversal of roles?”
The Iraqi woman replied, “Land mines.”
