There are no unisex gyms in Baghdad or women-only establishments because both Sunni and Shiite extremists believe it is haram, or forbidden and against Islam.
Al-Iraqiya state television has tried to fill the gap with a brief aerobics program, however. Every morning the channel broadcasts an aerobics lesson recorded at a city hotel protected by huge concrete blast walls.
It is conducted by three Iraqi women in colorful but loose-fitting tracksuits who perform dance-like moves to backing tracks of English pop music.
Since the invasion toppled former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein more than five years ago, scores of Iraqi men and women who owned or worked in beauty salons and gyms have been killed or threatened by religious extremists.
Women’s rights were recognized by Saddam’s secular Baath party.
Women would work openly, even as their traditional roles as mothers and wives remained deeply rooted in Iraqi society.
If the extremist threat against women is removed, the exercise business in the country could double. But until then, Iraqi women will have to sweat it out behind closed doors at home.
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