The famous 14th century Islamic theologian and philosopher Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote: “women are the half of society who gives birth to the other half and so they are seemingly the entire society.”
Six hundred years later, the Egyptian-Kurdish thinker Qasim Amin endorsed Jawziyya's observation regarding the vital role of women in society, leading the vanguard in calling for gender equality.
Yet to what extent have these far-sighted individuals shaped Muslim societies in general and the Kurds in particular?
Examining the contemporary state of women in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), it seems at first glance that the answer is a resounding YES, but it is still a work in progress. Much has been achieved since the formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government in 1992 that one cannot turn a blind eye to. At the moment, the region faces a major challenge working from the laws of the Iraqi Federal Government as well as some common traditional social structures that impede gender equality and reinforce old norms, including polygamy, honor killing, female genital mutilation, and child marriage.
"Much has been achieved since the formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government in 1992."
These structural problems are, however, balanced by two parallel Kurdish traditions of women intermingling with men in the public sphere and of strong female leaders, fighters, and politicians, from Khanzadeh in the 17th century and Kara Fatma in the 19th to Adela Khanum in the early 20th, to mention a few.
Female Kurds in Iraq began small-scale activities to advance the Kurdish women’s movement in Istanbul following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Thereafter, these activists worked in Iraqi Kurdistan, notching notable achievements such as opening a school for girls in Sulemani. Since then, Kurdish women have risen to leading roles while some neighboring societies still uphold traditional and patriarchal norms.
Among the most famous Kurdish women was Margaret George Shello, an Assyrian Kurd who in 1960 at the age of twenty became the first female fighter in the peshmerga, the Kurdish guerrilla forces, and assumed leading positions in important battles against the Iraqi army until her death nine years later.
"Kurdish women have risen to leading roles while some neighboring societies still uphold traditional and patriarchal norms."
Another was Leyla Qasim, a Kurdish student activist executed by the Ba’ath regime in 1974 because of her nationalist activities. On her way to the gallows, Qasim is said to have sung Ey Reqib, the Kurdish national anthem, and declared: "Kill me! But you must also know that after my death thousands of Kurds will wake up. I feel proud to sacrifice my life for the freedom of Kurdistan."
A turning point for Kurdish women came after the 1991 Gulf War and the establishment of the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Since then, women have driven the state-building project of Iraqi Kurdistan, partly through their participation in a plethora of women's organizations, which have worked to push the parliament to repudiate numerous discriminatory laws from 1992 to 2004, some of which had been enacted by the Ba’ath regime from 1968 to 2003.
For example, new laws forbade husbands from "disciplining" their wives and imposed stricter punishments against polygamy and honor killing, while a 2008 law repudiated an earlier one that equated two female witnesses with one male witness in court.
"In 2018, 30% of the Kurdistan Parliament were woman members of parliament."
In the political sphere, Kurdish women participate as voters and candidates and occupy administrative, governmental, and political posts. In 2018, 30% of the Kurdistan Parliament were female MPs, with the two important posts of speaker and secretary held by women. Women also serve as ministers – the first being in 1996 – judges, director generals, prosecutors, and police officers.
With the outbreak of fighting between the peshmerga and ISIS in August 2014, Iraqi Kurdish women embraced the military effort. The 2nd Battalion of 550 female peshmerga took part in training and fighting, with one woman, Kocher Saleh, selected as the first regiment commander.
In comparison to neighboring countries including Sunni and Shi'a communities in Iraq and to the Saddam era, Kurdish women have made progress, and there is a growing awareness among the political elite of the need to redress the situation.
In sum, growing numbers of individual Kurdish women have managed to break the glass ceiling in the KRI, and Kurdish female activists make me hopeful for the future of Kurdistan and the Middle East.
Prof. Ofra Bengio is senior research associate at the Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University and author of four books and scores of essays and articles on the Kurds.
