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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Washington File

25 April 2003

Iraqi Women Tell Powell They Want a Voice in Iraq's Rebirth

(Discuss challenges facing women and children in post-Saddam Iraq)
(1140)
By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Iraqi women, who constitute at least fifty-five percent
of their country's population, want a voice in its rebirth following
the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. This message was strongly
conveyed by six women in their April 23 meetings at the State
Department with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Under Secretary of
State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky.
The Iraqi women told Powell that in order to address the most critical
needs of Iraqi women and children, priority should be given to restore
the country's educational sector, improve its health care and social
services, and foster women's political participation through training
and exchanges, judicial and legal reform and human rights guarantees.
Following their meeting with Powell, the six Iraqi women; Zainab
Al-Suwaij, Rend Rahim Francke, Zakia Hakki, Sarbagh Salih, Nasreen
Sideek and Nadia Mirza; sat down for a discussion with Under Secretary
Dobriansky, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Assistant Administrator Wendy Chamberlain, and representatives of U.S.
non-governmental and human rights organizations.
Dobriansky opened the discussion by saying she had invited the six
women in order to get their perspective on how best to improve the
lives of Iraq's women and children. This would not be the only
occasion the United States would reach out to those sectors of the
population. "We see this as an ongoing process," she said.
USAID's Wendy Chamberlain drew the visitors' attention to the fact
that the U.S. Congress had approved $2.5 billion for post-war Iraqi
reconstruction "because we understand these points that you are
making."
"Never before in U.S. history have we been quite this generous and
upfront right away from the beginning," said Chamberlain. The question
Americans have for the Iraqi people is "How are we going to help you
... recreate your society?" she said.
Rend Rahim Francke, the Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation,
spoke of the challenge Iraqi women face in trying to gain political
participation. Francke and fellow visitor Zainab Al-Suwaij had gone to
the April 15 meeting in Ur, outside Nasiriyah, to take part in the
first meeting of Iraqis to discuss their future government after the
fall of the Ba'ath regime. They were both dismayed to discover that,
even though more than half of Iraq's population are female, only 4 out
of the 80 delegates to Ur were women.
Francke said this situation was a good illustration of the uphill
battle Iraqi women face in order to gain a better voice for their own
future. "The question of women in political life in Iraq is regarded
as a luxury by some," she said, who don't see it as important in the
context of overall rebuilding. "They're wrong," said Francke.
"Bringing women in is a demonstration of your commitment to democracy,
to diversity, to equality in society." Furthermore, she said the
inclusion of women's voices will assure sensitivity to women's needs.
Francke also argued that the recent change of Iraq's regime "opens a
door" of opportunity to everyone, including women, for the creation of
a civil society and institutions. But unless the opportunity is seized
now, the door will begin to close within three or four years. The
Iraqi people "need to push the envelope now," she said.
She asked the United States to help Iraq's women with training in
political organizing, grass roots activism and campaigning, "in
knowing how to present these issue so that they become national
issues."
She also warned that Iraqi health services have been severely
underfunded in favor of military expenditures since 1980. As a result,
Francke said hospitals and medical supplies do not adequately serve
the needs of the Iraqi people, and "preventive health care is
nonexistent."
The quality of education in Iraq has also left much to be desired,
said Zainab Al-Suwaij, the Executive Director of the American Islamic
Congress. She said the country's literacy rate has "dropped
dramatically" over the past three decades.
Al-Suwaij attacked the quality of school textbooks issued during
Saddam Hussein's rule as being infused with the ruling Ba'ath party's
ideology. The textbooks, she said, were "more focused upon promoting
the [Ba'athist] agenda than improving education." The regime's
doctrines were also forced upon the curriculum when war and praise of
Saddam Hussein were the required subjects of class discussions,
reports, and even artwork.
Intolerance for any sign of dissent, she said, has led to generations
of children being afraid or incapable of expressing their own ideas or
feelings. They have also been taught to hate outsiders -- whether
foreigners, followers of different religions, or different ethnicities
-- since Saddam's policy was always to emphasize differences between
people.
To improve the educational system in Iraq, Al-Suwaij said the
curriculum must be "de-Ba'athisized," and projects for the students
should be found on the grass-roots levels that would promote tolerance
and understanding of the different religious and ethnic communities in
Iraq.
School counselors, social workers and nurses should also be hired to
answer the questions and concerns of children, many of whom are
confused and stressed from the classroom practices under the Ba'ath
regime and need therapy. The families should also be asked to become
more involved, she said. "All of us as people who care about Iraqi
children will have to work together."
Zakia Hakki, who was once Iraq's first female judge, but is now a
member of Women for a Free Iraq, said the legal system also must be
cleansed of Ba'ath party laws and institutions, many of which are
inimical to acceptable human rights practices.
Judicial reforms should seek to separate religion from the state and
target fascist ideology espoused by Saddam Hussein, she said.
Replacement laws could receive their legal basis from the United
Nations Charter or the Fourth Geneva Convention. But, Hakki cautioned
that for all of these reforms to be seen as legitimate, they would
need to come solely from the new Iraqi government, and advised that
U.S. and coalition authorities inside the country not be involved.
USAID Assistant Administrator Chamberlain thanked the participants for
their input and asked that they participate in the fine-tuning of
projects the United States is setting up to address many of their
concerns.
"We are there with you," said Chamberlain. "What we need now from you
is your expertise."
The U.S. and coalition forces in control of Iraq immediately after the
conflict "want to find people like you and turn [Iraq] over as soon as
possible," and Chamberlain asked that they look critically at what has
been planned with the $2.5 billion in reconstruction aid and convey
their opinions over how successful those projects will be.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)



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