Iraq - Women's Ministry Lacks Support
Two years after the ministry was formed, its scope to bring about change is
severely constrained by its miniscule budget.
By Zaineb Naji in Baghdad (ICR No. 185, 12-Jul-06)
The Iraqi government is
not giving the moral and financial support the women's affairs ministry needs to
make real changes in Iraq, women's advocates say.
The post of minister
of state for women's affairs was established in July 2004 as part of former
interim prime minister Ayad Allawi's cabinet. Two years later, critics say the
government has paid only symbolic attention to women's issues. Nor have
politicians delivered on the pledges they made to promote women's rights in
their election campaigns.
While their offices technically count as
ministries, Iraq’s ministers of state have to work with limited staff and
budgets to administer small projects. There are six ministers of state in the
34-member cabinet.
The neglect of the women's affairs ministry has
continuing under Iraq's first permanent government, which was formed in May.
According to the ministry’s executive director-general, Saweba Nasraddin, the
department receives an allocation of just 2,000 US dollars a month to carry out
its programmes, whereas other ministries have budgets running into hundreds of
millions of dollars.
The 2,000 dollars is, at least, twice what the
ministry got under former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government of
2005, but women's advocates are still frustrated with what they say is merely
token support.
Nasraddin said that as a result of its tiny budget, the
ministry has never been able to carry though its agenda for women's political,
social and cultural issues.
"The reality is that women's affairs and
raising their status have not been priorities for the Iraqi government, which is
why [the ministry] doesn't have enough support," said Nasraddin.
Faiza
Babakhan, a former ministry consultant and lawmaker, said the women’s affairs
office functions like a non-governmental organisation, NGO, because it depends
more on international donors than on the cabinet. The ministry has received
grants from organisations such as UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund
for Women, over the past two years.
This year has been particularly tough
for women's activists, as the issue of female political power and representation
took a back seat to efforts to bring Iraq's main religious and ethnic groups in
the government.
Under former minister Azhar al-Shekhli, ministry staff
lobbied parliament in a bid to get it to take the ministry seriously and give it
a proper budget. Babakhan said the new cabinet is currently looking at a request
to strengthen the ministry, which would see its funding increased and the title
of minister of state - currently held by Fatin Abdel-Rahman - upgrade to full
ministerial rank.
Many female members of the National Assembly support
the plan. The Iraqi the constitution required that women account for a quarter
of the legislature’s membership.
"As a women lawmaker and activist, I
support this ministry, especially as Iraq goes through this critical time, which
has affected Iraqi women worst," said lawmaker Maysoon al-Damaluji.
The
ongoing violence has forced families to flee their homes and created high
unemployment, leaving women more vulnerable than ever. It has also increased the
number of widows.
Despite the shortage of funding, the ministry has been
able to carry out some projects, such as supporting women's groups and offering
micro-finance schemes to allow women to start up businesses that will support
their families. There are also projects to tackle female illiteracy and provide
health services, including sending mobile medical centres to remote rural areas.
NGOs working on women’s issues are calling for it to be made a proper
ministry with a larger budget and staff.
Jenan Mubarak, director of the
Iraqi Centre for Women's Rehabilitation and Employment, said coordination with
the ministry is often difficult because of the lack of resources.
"We
need an active governmental institution, support and open-mindedness," she
said.
Zaineb Naji is a Baghdad-based IWPR contributor.