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IRAQ
Women Miss Saddam
By Abdu Rahman and Dahr Jamail*
BAGHDAD, Mar 12, 2010 (IPS) - Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that
is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14,
1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had
most of the rights that Western women do.
Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: "Islam is the official religion of
the state and is a basic source of legislation." Sub-head A says "No law can
be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam." Under this Article
the interpretation of women's rights is left to religious leaders – and many of
them are under Iranian influence.
"The U.S. occupation has decided to let go of women's rights," Yanar
Mohammed who campaigns for women's rights in Iraq says. "Political Islamic
groups have taken southern Iraq, are fully in power there, and are using the
financial support of Iran to recruit troops and allies. The financial and political
support from Iran is why the Iraqis in the south accept this, not because the
Iraqi people want Islamic law."
With the new law has come the new lawlessness. Nora Hamaid, 30, a
graduate from Baghdad University, has now given up the career she dreamt
of. "I completed my studies before the invaders arrived because there was
good security and I could freely go to university," Hamaid tells IPS. Now she
says she cannot even move around freely, and worries for her children every
day. "I mean every day, from when they depart to when they return from
school, for fear of abductions."
There is 25 percent representation for women in parliament, but Sabria says
"these women from party lists stand up to defend their party in the
parliament, not for women's rights." For women in Iraq, the invasion is not
over.
The situation for Iraq's women reflects the overall situation: everyone is
affected by lack of security and lack of infrastructure.
"The status of women here is linked to the general situation," Maha Sabria,
professor of political science at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad tells IPS.
"The violation of women's rights was part of the violation of the rights of all
Iraqis." But, she said, "women bear a double burden under occupation
because we have lost a lot of freedom because of it.
"More men are now under the weight of detention, so now women bear the
entire burden of the family and are obliged to provide full support to the
families and children. At the same time women do not have freedom of
movement because of the deteriorated security conditions and because of
abductions of women and children by criminal gangs."
Women, she says, are also now under pressure to marry young in family hope
that a husband will bring security.
Sabria tells IPS that the abduction of women "did not exist prior to the
occupation. We find that women lost their right to learn and their right to a
free and normal life, so Iraqi women are struggling with oppression and
denial of all their rights, more than ever before."
Yanar Mohammed believes the constitution neither protects women nor
ensures their basic rights. She blames the United States for abdicating its
responsibility to help develop a pluralistic democracy in Iraq.
"The real ruler in Iraq now is the rule of old traditions and tribal, backward
laws," Sabria says. "The biggest problem is that more women in Iraq are
unaware of their rights because of the backwardness and ignorance prevailing
in Iraqi society today."
Many women have fled Iraq because their husband was arbitrarily arrested by
occupation forces or government security personnel, says Sabria.
More than four million Iraqis were estimated to have been displaced through
the occupation, including approximately 2.8 million internally. The rest live
as refugees mainly in neighbouring countries, according to a report by
Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings Institution-University of Bern
Project on Internal Displacement.
The report, titled, 'Going Home? Prospects and Pitfalls For Large-Scale Return
Of Iraqis', says most displaced Iraqi women are reluctant to return home
because of continuing uncertainties.
The Washington-based Refugees International (RI) says in a report 'Iraqi
Refugees: Women's Rights and Security Critical to Returns' that "Iraqi women
will resist returning home, even if conditions improve in Iraq, if there is no
focus on securing their rights as women and assuring their personal security
and their families' well-being."
The RI report covered internally displaced women in Iraq's semi-autonomous
northern Kurdish region and female refugees in Syria. "Not one woman
interviewed by RI indicated her intention to return," the report says.
"This tent is more comfortable than a palace in Baghdad; my family is safe
here," a displaced woman in northern Iraq told RI.
The situation continues to be challenging for women within Iraq.
"I am an employee, and everyday go to my work place, and the biggest
challenge for me and all the suffering Iraqis is the roads are closed and you
feel you are a person without rights, without respect," a 35-year-old
government employee, who asked to be referred to as Iman, told IPS.
"To what extent has this improved my security," she asked. "We have better
salaries now, but how can women live with no security? How can we enjoy our
rights if there is no safe place to go, for rest and recreation and living?"
(*Abdu, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with
Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who reports extensively
on the region)
(END)
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