|
Iraqi Kurdistan seen from a women’s
perspective
21.1.2011
By Falah Muradkan-Shaker - translated from Kurdish
by Hirmen Sabeer - ekurd.net |
|
|
|
January 21, 2011
I held my hand to reach my pen on to write an
article about women's lives in Kurdistan, from a
woman's perspective. To begin is undoubtedly the
most difficult part in the writing task, even more
so when the subject is a complex issue concerning
women's lives and aspirations in Kurdistan and Iraq.
What should be the introduction and how should the
task of selecting openings proceed? Should I begin
by writing about physical and psychological abuse?
Fear from family revenge and dread from manifesting
any sign of freedom? Female genital mutilation?
Suicide by self-burning? Polygamy? Marrying women
for women[1] and elder for younger? Or perhaps a
simple question like the sight of a woman standing
alone in a street with the questioning looks of
ravenous eyes fixed on her? Any one of those can
beyond doubt be the starting point of this
discussion.
The first letter I received in my e-mail this very
morning was a request from women of the Mirawdeli
tribe directed to the presidency of the Kurdistan
Region Government in Iraq (KRG) and the Kurdish
parliament. In this letter the women complain about
the habit of this large tribe, which spreads in a
large area spanning the border between Iran and
Iraq, of allowing their girls to marry only within
the tribe. They stress "We are uneasy from the
injustice done unto us, of that unbased and coercive
tradition that lingers in this tribe whereby women
are allowed to marry only within the same tribe.
This is a spectacular phenomenon, and it is wrong
since a marriage based on false premises
dispossesses life of meaning. No earthly or divine
law supports such an act!!"
This is why I make this story the introduction to my
article. I consider one of the ground problems and
an essential desire of women in our society to have
the freedom of choosing partners and lovers, which
women from cities and villages, both educated and
otherwise are deprived of. It is still the case in
our society that a third person decides on this
issue, not the concerned young man and woman.
Obviously this is a great concern for many girls,
and one rarely finds a family who agrees with their
daughter's choosing the partner she loves. The
majority of girls in our society are on the other
hand always afraid when they fall in love, afraid
that the concrete block that killed Do'a might be
thrown on their heads too (Du'a
was a Yazidi girl in Ba'shiqa, Northern Iraq, who
was killed by stones and concrete blocks, executed
by hundreds of men from her tribe in front of the
police and security forces, for the crime of falling
in love with a Muslim man).
The Women of the Mirawdeli tribe, that spreads from
Ranya, Pishder to Qaladize regions in Northeast
Kurdistan, are often married at an early age. By
"early" is meant marriage or exchange marriage (a
woman for a woman) at the crib to a male member of
the tribe. In a study done by the Ministry of Human
Rights of the KRG, 3,736 cases of infant marriage
(infant betrothal) were reported from these regions:
Ranya – 1,112, Chwarqurna – 1,111, Hajiawa - 846,
Betwate - 187, Pishder - 480 cases. This is only a
limited study and a yet greater number of cases are
certainly unrecorded.
The geographical extent of the region, multitude of
women issues and the large number of victims harmed
by such practices convinces me that if something has
to be done to improve the status of women, one
should start from this particular region. Once we
were able to do something about this region in
Kurdistan then we will certainly be able to achieve
progress in other regions, since the largest number
of women fatalities, honour killings, live burial of
women and female genital mutilation (FGM) are
reported from here. Thus this area can be seen as a
symbol for the anguish and suffering of women in
Kurdistan as a whole.
On the issue of FGM a report by WADI organization
raised to the Kurdish Parliament in 2008 details
data taken from 31 schools in the region of Ranya
and Qaladize, which indicate that 2,184 girls from a
total of 2,317 were mutilated (94%). Furthermore,
out of 554 women from the same region 553 were cut,
indicating a rate of almost 100% in middle-age
women.
Clearly different rates of FGM are recorded in other
areas, and when I distinguish the region of Ranya
and Qaladize as the real outcry centre of women I
intend that attention be paid to the region. Women
in these region fall under the traditional,
cultural, and religious pressures and, driven by
ignorance and illiteracy, become central agents in
exercising the same atrocities on other women. Women
are often the perpetrators of, or accomplices in,
the majority of cases of forced marriage, honour
killing, FGM and other forms of violence against
women in these places.
It is therefore of utmost importance that raising
consciousness is made the central aim and actively
worked for in all tribes and classes of the Kurdish
people.
In the last years, and specifically after the year
2000, women have manifested their dissidence in
different ways; many of them setting themselves on
fire. Suicide by self-immolation is the most
striking form of suicide in Kurdistan, usually done
by pouring gasoline or kerosene on one's body and
lighting it up. It is frequently the case if too
many difficulties and problems accumulate; suicide
becomes the only way of gaining deliverance from the
revenge of relatives, the false outlook of society
and pressure from tradition. Preliminary data
indicate that until now almost 10,000 women have
committed suicide by self-immolation in different
areas of Kurdistan, only in 2009 about 62 women
committed suicide by self-immolation in Ranya
region. This is an alarming figure and merits action
and serious investigation and planning in order to
identify its causes and instigate counter-measures
to limit the phenomenon.
In November of 2010, the newspapers Asharq Alawsat
and New York Times published a report indicating
that 10,000 women were killed by their families in
the pretext of preserving family honour (honour
killing) between 1991 and 2010. Clearly the KRG
rejected these data as false, but monitoring groups
and expert individuals assert that the figures
approach the real statistics. Those of us who live
in Kurdistan are well aware of these cases, and no
quarter or district, in any city or village has been
exempt from witnessing similar events. I myself
lived through two cases where women were killed in
two neighbouring houses in our quarter. Indeed we
are all aware of the wave of murdering woman that
has swept the country in the last few years.
This is why women demand peace, appeal that their
lives be secured and at least have a suitable place
to seek when faced with injustice or violence and
coercion. The number of such shelters is still not
adequate however, and in 2010 a report about the
work of these shelters in Kurdistan was published
under the title of "Banging the doors of women
shelters becomes widespread". This report records
many cases of trespassing into the shelters,www.ekurd.netand
prevalent shortcomings that are not fulfilled. It
stresses the requirement for urgent plans to secure
the lives of threatened women. Last week we were
able to save a woman from dying. We moved her from
Erbil to Sulaimaniyah, and then sent her to Germany
since she had a German passport. This was a very
dangerous undertaking. Unfortunately many other
women don't get so lucky in receiving helping hands.
Girls and women of this country are always
struggling to get a shred of freedom, but they lack
real support. Our politicians, in the dichotomy
between acknowledging women's rights and freedoms,
and the sentiments of conservatives, be them
religious or tribal men, always take the side of the
strongest. It is a bitter truth that our women would
thus be left unsupported. The proposed amendments to
the individual status law and the legislation
against violence against women are the least
discussed in the government. In 2008, while amending
the individual status law, polygamy became once
again approved. In the same year the parliament
shied away from discussing FGM and continued in
neglecting discussions of the proposed legislation
for combating violence against women, something
which they have been doing for many years now. These
are real requirements of women in Kurdistan, and
women’s rights and equality are basic human rights
that should be provided by the law.
Nowadays if a woman is a member of the political
committee of a party, or an MP, or a physician, or a
university lecturer or an illiterate housewife, she
will nonetheless require the presence of a male
member of her family older than 18 years old, if she
wants to apply for a passport! Otherwise she
wouldn't be able to hold a passport. Women aged 30
and 35 years are going to the passport issuing body
on a daily basis accompanied by their much younger
brothers in order to request passports. In my
opinion this is not only depriving women of their
rights but an act of disrespect towards humans and
women. But who feels concerned really?
While almost finishing writing this article a big
uproar arose in the parliament and in the mosques of
Hawler city on the use of the words "gender
equality" in some proposed legislations. They claim
that the word entails equality between men and women
and is thus an unwelcome advancement. In one
newspaper the Minister of Religious Affairs of the
KRG says that those who use that word are "dishonourable"
(Rudaw newspaper), and never is this minister faced
with questioning by any authority or individual.
This is why seekers of democracy and secularism and
the intellectuals of Kurdistan are supporting the
girls and women of Kurdistan and have a different
perspective on their needs. However, they are alone
in this struggle and any support will constitute an
impetus to getting closer to the attainment of
another freedom.
Today Kurdistan is a place were such discussions
take place, because it embodies a hope in the
future, and the chance available to us in this
region is exemplary compared with many of the nearby
countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria or
indeed middle and South of Iraq. Although some
important steps have been taken towards change we
are still far from achieving the optimum situation
for women in Kurdistan, who, we hope, will rather
sooner than later will gain all of their rights and
freedoms.
Mr. Muradkan-Shaker is a lawyer and works as Iraq
Project Co-ordinator for the German-Iraqi relief
organisation WADI (www.wadi-online.de and
www.stopfgmkurdistan.org)
The article was translated from Kurdish by
Hirmen Sabeer
Copyright © 2011 ekurd.net
Top |
The opinions
expressed in this commentary are solely those of the
author
|
®
