How does a wildly successful sixty-year-old Republican woman from affluent Orange County, California find herself smack in the middle of the Iraq War?
In the aftermath of 2003’s American-led invasion of Iraq, Congress appropriated $18.4 billion US tax dollars for construction and repair of that country’s infrastructure. Saddam Hussein’s flagrant neglect of the nation he’d ruled for more than two decades had left the land and its people virtually destitute, while he’d built hundreds of palaces to support his gluttonous lifestyle.
Approached by a colleague to draft a plan to ensure that Iraqi women—who’d all but disappeared from public life under Iraq’s increasingly gender-oppressive culture—would be able to play a significant role in the rebuilding of their country, political consultant Eileen Padberg got far more than she’d bargained for. She soon found herself on a military C-130 transport bound for Baghdad’s Green Zone, tapped to execute the plan in a region where a forty-pound flak jacket and boiled beef at the DFAC would replace Eileen Fisher fashions and BBQ on the patio.
Surprisingly, as Padberg would quickly learn, the most formidable obstacle to Iraq’s integration of qualified women back into the workforce was not the country itself, but the US government and military.
As an expert in military affairs, I found Ms. Padberg's account of her service in Iraq compelling, credible and extremely powerful.
--Jeff Cateau, coauthor, The Complete Idiot's Guide To The Pentagon
Eileen Padberg writes with a "steely eye and a steady hand", transporting us to the "front line" of rebuilding Iraq while the people are still in war. Tasked with ensuring Iraqi women could build their businesses to help reconstruct a "new" Iraq, Padberg steps into a situation that is even foreign to the locals: After years of having no rights, how do the women "reinsert" themselves into society? Padberg became their mentor, cajoler, sounding board, advocate, and friend. All this, while trying to stay alive. Read her story now, it will inspire you to greater heights.
--Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
Eileen Padberg's new book, Out of My Lane: Leveling the Playing Field for Iraqi Women, provides a unique perspective on the war in Iraq - that of a 60-year-old civilian and California political consultant dedicated to women's rights, who took on the daunting task of helping repressed Iraqi women participate in the economic rebuilding of their country. It’s a gripping tale, both terrifying and fascinating. Eileen brings a new and unique insight to the quest to understand America's seeming tragic inability to bring Iraq either peace or democracy.
--Karen Clark
Eileen depended on me to help her through the cultural landscape and I depended on her to implement a plan that would in real time help Iraqi women become independent business women and government officials. Sometimes it seemed like no one thought our efforts were important, but Eileen would never let us give up. We persevered in the face of some very difficult times, and her gripping book documents it all.
--Esra Naama
