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Female politicians and a secular Iraqi Kurd as
interim president do not necessarily translate into
more women's rights in Iraq. At a women's shelter in
Irbil, for instance, residents aren't expecting new
protections from domestic violence.
IRBIL, Iraq (WOMENSENEWS)--Sitting in a dark
room without electricity or heat Fatima reproaches
visitors who offer only their pity.
"So, what are you going to do for us?"
Nongovernmental organizations and many journalists
had come to visit Khanzad House, the only woman's
shelter in Irbil, but there have been few resources
to help improve their lives.
Fatima--for her protection only her first name has
been used--has not seen her seven children in over a
year. Each time she dares to call them on the phone,
her husband and brother threaten to kill her.
She is one of many who have sought refuge here from
abuse or death threats.
The women in Khanzad house represent a microcosm of
Iraq. There are Kurds and Arabs, Christians,
Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites. Violence against them
knows no sectarian or ethnic boundaries.
Many women here doubt that the country's new
national assembly, despite its high proportion of
women, will be focused on giving the women in the
shelter more protection from domestic abuse. Instead
they expect the government to be focused on ethnic
and religious politics in the coming year.
Ethnic, Religious Elections
Women won about 33 percent of the seats in Iraq's
transitional national assembly on Jan. 30, exceeding
the required minimum of 25 percent.
But Baghdad-based Hanaa Edwar, a pioneer on women's
issues and head of an independent women's party who
also runs a network of 80 Iraqi women's groups, is
not necessarily impressed.
"Many elected women . . . they don't have any
interest on women rights," Edwar said.
Some of the female candidates were asked to run in
order to fill a 25-percent female quota, despite
little experience as politicians.
Several of them, like many of their male
counterparts, are just loudspeakers for the
political parties they represent, some women's
leaders complained.
"I want a woman who believes in women's rights,"
said Ala Talabani, who runs a non-governmental
organization on women's empowerment in Sulimaniya,
Iraqi Kurdistan.
The elections, Talabani said, were not decided on
the basis of issues or politics, but on ethnicity,
religion, nationality.
"Kurds voted for Kurds, Shiites for Shiites, Sunnis
for Sunnis, Turkomen for Turkomen."
The Kurdish Way
Ala Noori, a Kurd elected to the national assembly,
confirmed the impression that at least some female
politicians will represent their regions more than
their gender.
Noori was originally from Kirkuk before her family
was displaced under Saddam Hussein's regime in the
mid 1970s. The gap she sees between Kurds and the
Arabs of Iraq will follow her to Baghdad.
"I will fight as a Kurd first before fighting as a
woman," said Noori.
Kurds won the second largest bloc of seats in the
Iraqi parliament, giving them a powerful voice in
the say of Iraq's future. Jalal Talabani, one of
their two most prominent leaders and a longtime
opponent to Saddam Hussein's regime, was appointed
interim Iraqi president.
Kurds have struggled with Arab, Persian and Ottoman
occupation. The four million Kurds in northern Iraq
have a different language, culture and history from
the rest of the country.
Compared to Iraqi women, many Kurdish women boast
greater equality with men. In a long history of
conflicts and struggle against Saddam, they fought
either on the frontline or to support the household
when men disappeared.
At the end of the first Gulf War, after the bloody
repression of an uprising in the Iraqi Kurdish
region, the United Nations created a "no-fly" zone
for Iraqi planes. Under this semi-autonomy political
and non-governmental women's organizations
flourished and women became more involved in
politics and in the work force.
Religion Strengthened
At the same time, however, religion was
strengthening in northern Iraq, leaving Kurdish
society with a politically complex attitude toward
ethnic identity, women's rights, Sharia law and
secularism; all of which are expected to hinder
consensus on the Constitution and women's role in
society.
Shirin Amadi, secretary-general of the Kurdish
Women's Union and the highest ranking politician in
the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, one of two main
Kurdish parties, said the region's shift toward
religion occurred within her own life, from the time
of her childhood to when she had children of her
own.
"When I was young I read Marxist books and didn't
fast but now I oblige my kids to fast. I guess Iran
and Iraq influenced us all, as well as poverty."
Since semi-autonomy in 1991, there were two
significant legal changes for Kurdish women, said
Talabani, the interim Iraqi president. One
stipulated a man had to obtain permission from his
first wife in order to marry a second and the other
that honor killings would be treated as a
first-degree murder.
Layla Miraul is an electrical engineer, a wife, a
mother of two and an active member of the Kurdistan
Islamic Union.
At 32 she ran as a Kurdistan Islamic Union member
for the Irbil governorate council but her party did
not receive enough votes for her to win. She
organizes activities and training of high school
girls on topics ranging from morality to computers.
She also teaches Sharia law, a legal code based on
the Koran and teachings of the prophet Mohamed that
many interpret to provide that women should receive
half the inheritance a man does.
Her favorite section of the Koran is the part that
speaks about the virtues and sufferings of Maryam,
mother of Issa (Jesus).
"I believe that Sharia grants maximum women's rights
and total human rights," Miraul said. A woman in
Iraq goes from her father's house to her husband's
and is the responsibility of the men therefore she
does not need as much inheritance, Miraul argued.
As for Sharia's allowance for polygamy, Miraul said
it is better for men to be allowed to marry four
wives, otherwise many women could miss out on
opportunity to be married.
"If secularism is fully applied then women will lose
their role in the family and their role in the
community. We will start to have a moral crisis,"
Miraul said.
As for Fatima at the women's shelter: She rarely
goes outside. If she does, she is fearful and fully
covered.
She wishes to go back to her husband for the sake of
her children; but even the police advise against it.
With no unified political voice speaking for women
such as her, either at the local or national level,
all she does can do is wait.
Cyrille Cartier was working at Reuters in Washington
D.C. before freelancing in Iraq.
www.mountvernonnews.com
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