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Women's voices on election day in Iraq
21.12.2005
By IWPR trainees in Iraq (ICR No. 159)
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As
Iraqi women streamed into polling centres for last
week’s election, IWPR reporters sought out the views
of this increasingly assertive constituency.
Rusul Ali, a 35-year-old engineer in the ministry of
planning, put the final touches to her make up as
she prepared to go to the polling station with her
husband and 15-year-old daughter.
The three, together with residents of their
predominantly Shia neighbourhood, strode half a
kilometre to the local polling station, as children
took advantage of the election-day ban on vehicles
to play soccer in the street.
"This is the third time I'm going to vote, and every
time I feel my pulse dancing as if it's the first
time," said Ali.
"The former governments spent their time drafting
rules and the constitution," she continued. "The new
government has to apply these rules and improve them
to support Iraq's interests and achieve stability."
Ali believes Ayad Allawi's secular National Iraqi
List is the best bet to carry out those
responsibilities, though she keeps this to herself.
Her husband, a supporter of the religious and more
conservative Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance, wants
the latter to maintain its control of parliament.
"I voted for Allawi because he is a liberal and
supports women's issues," she said after casting her
ballot. "I see him as a powerful man that Iraq needs
right now."
***
Dhilal Naji is a 33-year-old divorced mother of one
and an assistant to a school headmaster in Ramadi.
She lives with her daughter and her parents in the
city, at the western corner of the so-called Sunni
Triangle.
Fighting between insurgents and US troops regularly
forces schools and shops in Ramadi to close. The
chaos only strengthens Naji's determination to make
sure her daughter has a secure future. Naji's dream
is for 3-year-old Araw to become a doctor.
Last Thursday, for once, the city’s streets were
quiet, as a curfew was in force and many Sunni
Arab-led insurgent groups had promised not to hit
polling stations.
Like many in Ramadi, Naji did not vote in Iraq's two
other polls this year. Only a handful of voting
centres opened in the city in January and October
due to violence.
"Even if it will cost me my life, I want to vote
simply to ensure my daughter’s future," said Naji.
Naji took Arwa with her to the polling station near
her house, where she voted for National Accord
Front, one of the main Sunni Arab lists.
"It’s the only slate for the Sunni people that is
keenly aware of our issues," said Naji. "Its main
goal is to set a timetable for the Americans to pull
out."
As she dropped her voting card into the ballot box,
Naji looked up and saw her ex-husband. He told her
he voted for the Iraqi National List.
"It seems we are different in many ways," he told
her, "except in our desire to give Araw's generation
a better life."
***
Awaz Ali, a 35-year-old primary school teacher,
treated election day as a holiday. She woke up early
in the morning, and prepared a meal of apricot soup,
rice and meat.
Ali, her husband and her children all put on their
traditional Kurdish clothing - shimmering, flowing
dresses in bright hues for the women and girls, and
baggy pants with wide waistbands and vests for the
men and boys.
She painted the flag of Kurdistan on the cheeks of
her three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son,
who carried Kurdish flags to the polls.
"No one else sacrificed as much as we did, and now
no one else is as happy as we are," she said,
referring to her delight at voting in the election.
Women, she said, no longer fear the regime nor worry
that their children will be forced to serve in the
Iraqi military, which was notorious for persecuting
Kurds.
And, she maintained, women now have a voice in
democracy.
"You see that my husband and I went to vote
together," she said as she left the polling station,
holding her three-year-old daughter's hand.
"Everyone now has the right to vote – and I won’t
give up this right.”
Ali and her husband both backed the Kurdistan
Alliance, the main Kurdish list. She believes the
list will empower her people and defend their rights
in Baghdad.
"We are here today because of the blood of the
martyrs and the efforts of our officials," she said.
"I'm sure we will continue to be victorious.”
***
With the morning sunrise, Fahima Dawood, 46, rose
and prepared breakfast for her husband, al-Hajj
Mahdi.
Dawood, known as Um Hikmat, slipped on her black
abbaya and made her way to meet her brother's wife
at a polling station three kilometres from their
modest home.
Dawood is a Shia - her husband a Sunni Arab. The
couple, who have a son in Baghdad, live in an Arab
neighbourhood of the ethnically and religiously
mixed city of Kirkuk
But they ended up voting along sectarian lines. She
for the United Iraqi Alliance - the most powerful
coalition in parliament - and he for the National
Accord Front.
She admits to having a limited grasp of current
Iraqi politics. But of one thing she’s certain - the
new Iraqi government must guarantee women's rights.
Dawood’s husband had prevented her from voting in
previous elections. "We know what is in our wives'
interests," he said. "We won't do something that
harms us and them as well."
***
For many Iraqi women, election day was a
government-mandated holiday during which they could
vote and spend time with their families. But Sadiyah
Hamad Shanshal was not among them.
Shanshal, a squatter in a former intelligence
apparatus building from Saddam Hussein's reign,
spent most of the day rummaging through garbage and
stuffing cans in a large plastic bag.
Her husband divorced her eight years ago, she said,
and she has since provided for her seven children.
She does so by selling aluminium cans, which local
dealers often resell in Iran.
Her nine-year-old son, Munthir, worked with her on
election day, which proved more profitable than
most. Garbage workers had not collected trash in the
city for several days due to strict curfews imposed
before the election.
Poor families in the capital squat in deserted
offices that once housed Saddam-era bureaucrats.
Shanshal paid 350,000 Iraqi dinars (about 235 US
dollars) to take over some space in one building.
"We're live here with 100 families,” she said. "We
live in poverty and don't get help from any party."
Shanshal collected cans around a polling station
where she planned to vote. She’s a Sunni Arab, but
didn’t vote along sectarian lines.
"I voted for al-Jaafari's coalition," she said,
referring to the United Iraqi Alliance led by Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. "They didn't kick us
out of our residence even though the finance
ministry warned us to leave. I hope the new
government will give us permanent homes."
The IWPR trainees are: Zaineb Naji and Daud
Salman in Baghdad, Yasin al-Dilaimi in Ramadi, Talar
Nadir in Sulaimaniyah, Samah Samad in Kirkuk
www.iwpr.net
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