Women in Kurdistan-Iraq: issues, obstacles and enablers

Abstract

This article explores women’s situation in Kurdistan-Iraq. We examine key issues of concern to Kurdish women and the arenas which present enablers and obstacles to their action: the family and tradition; Islam and Muslim institutions; political parties and the state; civil society associations and non-governmental organisations. We look at recently promulgated laws on violence against women and on personal status. Our research is based on in-depth interviews, legal documents, grey literature and internet sources.

Keywords:

• women
• Kurdistan
• Iraq tradition
• Islam politics

Acknowledgements

Our thanks go to the CADIS-EHESS which funded the fieldwork towards this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Professor Danièle Joly is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick, associate researcher at the Collège d’études mondiales (MSH-Paris), associate researcher at the Centre Migration et Citoyenneté (IFRI, Paris) and associate researcher at the CADIS-EHESS (Paris). She has completed a European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship at the Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (CADIS) conducting research on Muslim women’s political participation in Europe. In 2011–2012, she was resident researcher at the Institut d’Etudes Avancées-Paris. Prior to that, she was director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick. She obtained a Licence es Lettres from the University of Nanterre and a Master’s degree in industrial relations from the University of La Sorbonne. She gained a PhD from the University of Aston and a D.Litt from the University of Warwick. She has published on Muslim populations in Britain and France, on ethnic relations and on refugees in Europe. Her publications include Muslim Women and Power (forthcoming with Khursheed Wadia), L'Emeute (2007), Muslims in Prison (2005), Blacks and Britannity (2001), Haven or Hell: Asylum Policy and Refugees in Europe (1996), Britannia’s Crescent: Making a Place for Muslims in British Society (1995), Refugees: Asylum in Europe (1992) and The French Communist Party and the Algerian War (1991). She is editor inter alia of International Migration in the New Millennium (2004) and Global Convergence in Asylum Regimes (2001). Her areas of expertise include Muslims in Europe, refugees and asylum policy in Europe, ethnic relations and integration. She has also undertaken research on Muslim women in Europe and in Kurdistan-Iraq.

Dr Bakawan has been a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Evry University since 2011 and an associate researcher at the CADIS-EHESS (Paris). He obtained a PhD from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He is the author of several books in Kurdish including Iraq from Fayçal to Talabani (2006), Terrorism as a Social Construction (2008), Islam and the West (2008), Kurdistan Facing Terrorism (2009), The End of Laicity (2012) and Black Society (2013).

Notes

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38. International Rescue Committee AusAid, ‘Working Together’, 8.

39. Ibid., 8–9.

40. Ibid., 7.

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57. Hardi, ‘Women’s Activism’, 48.

58. Ibid., 49.

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60. Yahya, ‘Xwêndneweî helwmercî’ [A lecture].

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63. WADI, ‘FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan’, 2.

64. Hardi, ‘Women’s Activism, 56–7.

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78. Article 409: ‘Any person who surprises his wife or close female relative in the act of adultery and kills them immediately or one of them or assaults one of them so that he or she dies or is left permanently disabled is punishable by a period of detention not exceeding 3 years. It is not permissible to exercise the right of legal defense against any person who uses this excuse nor do the rules of aggravating circumstance apply against him’, http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/WomenUnderOccupation.pdf (accessed 23 March 2015).

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82. UN Women Report, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice (2011), http://www.unwomenuk.org/un-women-launches-first-major-report-progress-of-the-world%E2%80%99s-women-in-pursuit-of-justice/ (accessed 20 March 2015).

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84. http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/krg-kurdistan-bring-dunya-s-murderer-to-justice-don-t-allow-a-tribal-deal?share_id=ogimChXBiL&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true.

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Additional information

Funding

The research was conducted at the Centre d’Analyse et d’Intervention Sociologique, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (CADIS-EHESS). This work was supported by the Centre d’Analyse et d’Intervention Sociologique, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, which funded the fieldwork towards this article.