“Women used to be everywhere driving their cars. Then we saw a backslide,” said Safia al-Souheil, an MP and women’s rights activist. “Today is much better.”

Unlike in Saudi Arabia, women in Iraq face no legal barriers to driving. For decades, Iraq was one of the most secular countries in West Asia, with women going to college, competing in sports and enjoying legal protections in marriage, divorce and inheritance.

But as the country slid into chaos and kidnappers began prowling the streets. Islamic extremists threw acid in the faces of women who went out unveiled.

“Even if we had learned to drive, it wouldn’t have mattered. You would have had to stay at home,” said Sabah Salman, 24, a college student in an exuberant yellow head scarf, green polka-dot jacket and long black skirt, sitting next to Ahmed, her cousin, in al-Riyadh’s reception area.

Women weren’t the only ones affected by the violence. But, in this patriarchal society, they were seen as more vulnerable, especially since many men started carrying weapons. To get around, women had to resort to taxis, buses or rides from husbands.

Salman said she longs to “jump in the car” and go shopping or visit friends. But driving is about more than convenience, she said.

“The country is developed now. It’s a period of fast change,” she said. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, she noted, Iraq has ceased to be cut off from the world. Its citizens have acquired satellite TV, cellphones, computers.