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Kurdish women facing growth in violent
acts
9.3.2010
By Michael Jansen
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Michael Jansen in Sulaimaniyah meets local women who
are fighting for change and liberation
March 9, 2010
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Suli's cultural elite
marked International Women’s Day with speeches,
poetry, music and a play depicting family violence
at a gathering in Tawar Hall in the city centre.
Girls in spectacular sequined kaftans and spiked
heels, miniskirts and ruffled wraparounds took their
seats alongside well-coiffed matrons in severe suits
and traditional black dresses – each wearing a curl
of violet ribbon.
Parwa Ali, parliamentary candidate for the “Change”
party, was waiting in the VIP seats in the front
row. She smiled and held my gaze as she spoke.
“I have tried to raise awareness about the suffering
of Kurdish women through my television programme.
Women here live in the shadows.
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Kurdish women who are fighting for change and
liberation |
Those who get ahead do
so through family connections. They are not selected
according to specific criteria.”
If she is one of the 82 women elected to the
325-seat Iraqi parliament she intends to work with
sister deputies to abrogate the article in the
post-war Iraqi constitution that subordinates women
to men.
Although Sulaimaniyah province is considered to be
liberal and progressive, women here suffer
circumcision, rising domestic abuse and
discrimination.
In 2009 there were 1,079 violent incidents reported,
as compared with 715 in 2008. But most incidents go
unreported. In 2009, 245 women and girls committed
suicide by self-immolation; the figure for 2008 was
119. Some of these incidents were, however, bride
burnings by in-laws disappointed over dowry
payments. During this period there was a drop in
honour killings from 20 to 17.
These figures explain why the ruling alliance and
the opposition Change movement put combating
violence against women at the top of their agenda.
In an interview on election day, Pakhan Zandana,
sole candidate of the Communist Party of Kurdistan
in Sulaimaniya, also spoke of the urgent need for
change. Her party contested the election in alliance
with the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
and Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).
Zandana, who held a seat in the Kurdish regional
parliament until last year, joined the Communist
Party in 1963 when she was 15. She became a
peshmerga fighter in the mountains during the
Kurdish revolt against the ousted Iraqi regime,www.ekurd.netwent
underground in the early 1990s, and spent several
years in exile in Germany. “I returned only when
Saddam was dead,” she said.
“Women’s problems are caused by traditional culture
and religion. The situation is getting worse because
of the rise of the Islamic parties. In the 1950s
women in Halabja [a town on the Iranian border] wore
skirts and short sleeves – now they dress
traditional.”
Muslim fundamentalists gained influence after the
Kurdish rising of 1991. “They got money from Qatar,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran and gave it to people
who adopted conservative customs and attended
mosques. Girls were made to put on headscarves. Acid
was thrown on women who wore skirts.”
If she wins a seat in the national parliament,
Zandana will press for harsh punishments for men who
commit violence against women.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
The Irish Times | irishtimes com
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