KEY
QUESTIONS:
Has the Bush administration ensured involvement and appointment
of critical numbers of women in all groups planning the reconstruction of Iraq_
Will women's rights be considered in the new constitution_ Have women's health
and safety needs been integrated into post-war humanitarian and reconstruction
efforts_
RHETORIC:
"The commitment of the United States to the human rights
of Iraq's women is unshakable and manifested clearly by our activities on
the ground as well as our policy statements. Equally important, our efforts
are appropriately guided by the Iraqi women themselves."--Paula Dobriansky,
Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, Op-Ed, Washington Post, July 2,
2003
REALITY:
- Women's leadership
is largely absent in rebuilding Iraq. The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing
Council established on July 13, 2003 includes only three women among its
25 members. Limited information is available about the Iraqi Reconstruction
and Development Council, set up by the Pentagon in March to aid in reconstruction
planning, but no women have been prominently identified.
- Recent efforts toward
defining a new Iraqi constitution have also excluded women. The constitutional
committee named August 11, 2003 by the Governing Council does not include
a single woman among its 25 members. Of 250 delegates to two previous meetings
on a new constitution, only six were women.
- No women are among
13 legal experts assembled by the U.S. Justice Department to help rebuild
Iraq's shattered court system. In July 2003, the U.S. indefinitely postponed
the swearing in of an Iraqi female judge in Najaf in response to protests
in that city.
- Iraqi women and girls
are withdrawing from public life because of grave security concerns. Human
Rights Watch reported widespread rapes and abduction due to lack of public
security. Amnesty International reported that parents "were not allowing
their daughters to go to school as they were worried that they would be
kidnapped or raped."
NOTES ON FINAL
GRADE:
Though the importance of Iraqi women's rights have been featured
in Bush administration statements, to date Iraq's reconstruction efforts have
not included a critical number of women in leadership roles.
RESOURCES
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Human Rights Watch report: http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/07/iraq071603.htm
Amnesty International report: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE141432003_open&of=ENG-IRQ#women
Woodrow Wilson Center conference on the role of women in Iraq: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/conflictprevention
