BAGHDAD, 19 February 2004 — Small groups of women took to the streets around Iraq yesterday to demand at least a 40 percent share of the country’s new political power as females make up more than half of the population.
They also opposed an attempt by Iraq’s Governing Council to turn the clock back on women’s existing rights by repealing long-standing secular family laws. A provisional administration is due to take power from the interim council by June 30 and Iraqi women, who comprise at least 52 percent of the country’s 25-million-strong population, want a piece of the action.
“We think this is very, very important,” said Hanaa Edwar, secretary general of the Iraqi El Amal Association, the network group that coordinated the simultaneous rallies in separate provinces nationwide.
“It is a decisive time for Iraqi women to be represented in the democratization of our country,” she told AFP at a peaceful protest of about 30 or 40 women in Baghdad.
On a large traffic island in the center of Baghdad, old and young women, some dressed in conservative shawls and robes, others in western clothes, brandished banners and gave speeches to draw attention to their cause.
“We want to get women’s rights because we are the majority and such rights did not exist until now,” said Suha Yakub, a 22-year-old student, dressed in a denim skirt and shirt.
The women’s case even spurred one man to stand up and declare his support. “We have got to give fair rights to women and men,” said Nuri Sittr, an adviser to Iraq’s reconstruction and development council.
Edwar said she was unsure how many other demonstrations were taking place but was confident they had occurred in at least 10 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. The women want to ensure that equal rights with men are enshrined in a temporary constitution or fundamental law being drawn up to provide the legal framework for Iraq’s new administration.
