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December 17, 2003 Rebecca Menso

IRAQI WOMEN'S GROUPS CONFRONT U.S. ON POLITICAL EQUALITY

U.S. Women's Organizations Write Bremer in Solidarity

A coalition of women's and human rights groups in Iraq delivered a strongly worded letter to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) today, challenging the Authority to "take immediate and pro-active steps to redress discrimination and to protect the voice of Iraqi women."

In cataloging the shortcomings of the CPA in its treatment of women to date, the letter cited 10 areas in which the CPA has failed to protect the rights of women:

• appointing only 3 women out of 25 Interim Governing Council members
• appointing no women governors in any of the 18 provinces
• failing to assure any women were appointed to the Fundamental Law Committee
• failing to assure women's appointments to head government ministries (only 1 woman serves for 25 ministries).

The largest coalition of U.S. women's groups, the National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), spoke in solidarity with the Iraqi women, and followed up with a letter to Ambassador Paul Bremer, U.S. Civil Administrator in Iraq. "This is a crucial time for women of Iraq, and the U.S. has an ironclad obligation to assure parity for women in all phases leading up to writing the Fundamental Law and drafting of the Constitution," said Martha Burk, Chair of NCWO. "Clearly Iraqi women have been shortchanged, and the situation must be corrected immediately. President Bush has expressed strong support for equal rights for women in Iraq, and the U.S. government is obligated to make that a reality."

"Women are 60% of the population in Iraq. To appoint only 12% as members of the Interim Governing Council is enforcing a most oppressive male quota on the majority of the population," continued Burk. "Minorities should no longer oppress the majority in Iraq. Our 180 women's groups, collectively representing 10 million women nationwide, strongly support this challenge to the actions of CPA, and will act in solidarity with Iraqi women in urging the U.S. to adopt new policies and procedures to insure women's equal participation."