Iraq - Women's Movement Grows

By Allyn Gaestel

WAFDI leads many workshops for women, such as this sewing class in the Al-Wafaa refugee camp. Also, Iraqi women are mobilizing for their rights across all sectors of Iraqi society. (Photo credit: WAFDI)

29 April 2010 [MediaGlobal]: Iraq is still in the grips of fierce political negotiations to form a government following parliamentary elections in March. But as votes are recounted and parties struggle to form coalitions to choose the prime minister, women are pushing under the radar to assert their rights across all sectors of society.

Basma Fakri, President of the Women’s Alliance for a Democratic Iraq (WAFDI), a women’s empowerment organization uniting women across political, ethnic, and religious lines, told MediaGlobal: “Unfortunately, women’s rights is not one of the main factors on the negotiation table between the main political parties, but that won’t stop Iraqi women from keep on fighting for their rights.”

Women in parliament fought for open electoral lists so voters can choose both parties and individuals. They contributed to the implementation of a quota system; women are constitutionally mandated to fill 25 percent of seats in parliament, and even with the continuing negotiations women have already secured 82 seats (25.23 percent) in the March elections. (The United States, by comparison has only 16.8 percent women in the House of Representatives.) Iraqi women parliamentarians were also instrumental in defeating resolution 137 in 2004, which would have replaced Iraq’s family code with Shari’a law.

Women in government come from diverse backgrounds, with varying levels of experience in politics and civil society. Some are considered seat holders, put in place by their party to fulfill the quota requirement. But once in parliament, even those less active in politics previously have begun to take on their roles and fight for causes they believe in. Janet Benshoof, CEO of the Global Justice Center, an international NGO that works with women to implement international equality laws into national legal structures, told MediaGlobal “Even if some of them were just put in by the religious party to occupy the woman’s slot, those women don’t all change, but a lot of them change when they get in office.”

Women in parliament have unified across party lines with the support of WAFDI. They have worked for women’s rights, but have also expanded their priorities. Women were influential in passing a law that allows NGOs to incorporate without the support of a political party, a shift from earlier standards that had politicized civil society.

Women also play an essential role in fighting corruption. Carole Basri is an Iraqi-American lawyer who has worked extensively on anti-corruption measures internationally and in Iraq. She cited studies saying that internationally women are less likely than men to be corrupted, and explained her experience of women fighting corruption: “What I have found is that women in most societies are outsiders, and because of their outsider status, they are more able to spot something that looks strange that is probably not part of the process, that’s corruption. They’re also more likely not to take bribes.” She also emphasized the solidarity of women’s anti-corruption work across party lines: “I was surprised at how this became a rallying call for religious and secular women, that this is one area that there was a commonality.”

To be active citizens and legislators Iraqi women must be empowered through economic advancement and education, according to Tamara Quinn, an Iraqi-American businesswoman. Quinn is the CEO of AIX Global, a medical supply company started in 2006 that sells equipment to Iraq’s ministry of health and the private sector. They will open a plant in Kurdistan this year that will employ widows to give them business skills and financial independence.

Quinn had been hoping to work with women entrepreneurs through the nonprofit sector, but when she was unable to secure funding for the program she created a private business. She told MediaGlobal “A woman cannot really be a leader or think about democracy until she puts food on the table, and so far I have not been very successful in changing how the grants are directed. But that’s why we’re doing it from the business standpoint, because I really believe that is essential for the future for any woman.”

Widows are an extremely vulnerable group in Iraq, according to Judge Zakkia Hakki, Iraq’s first woman judge who was appointed in 1959 and is now a member of parliament. She told MediaGlobal that there are 2 million widows in Iraq following the deadly violence under Saddam Hussein. Widows without vocational skills are often forced into marriage as a second, third, or fourth wife. Hakki said, “A job is the only way to ensure independence and dignity for these women.”

Quinn’s work to provide vulnerable women and widows with job skills is not meant to deter women from remarrying if they choose to. Quinn specified: “I think it is important to help them stand on their feet. Now at that time, if they want to make a decision and go get married, and be a third or fourth wife, I’m not against it at all; it’s their own decision. It just does not need to be where they are forced into something just because they have no alternatives.”

The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), the court appointed to prosecute crimes committed under Saddam Hussein’s rule from 1968 to 2003 has made enormous strides in defining gender-based crimes as war crimes and crimes against humanity. While only 2 of 55 IHT judges are women, GJC has been working with all the IHT judges to implement international laws concerning women.

Thus, women are advocating across Iraqi society for their rights, and standing against violence, stigma, and discrimination in their struggle. So far they are doing so without significant tangible support from the international community. Benshoof told MediaGlobal: “People talk about supporting development in the Mideast, they talk about supporting women’s development…but nobody does things like explicitly try to support the women judges now to be sitting judges, [or] explicitly try to support the women legislators…nobody is focusing on what everybody identifies as key to peace.”

As Iraqi women continue to self-advocate there is ample opportunity for the international community to support their efforts through funding, training and capacity building.

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