In Iraqi Kurdish city, women gain power without parity
In the Kurdish city of Halabja in northeastern Iraq, municipal director Kwestan Faraj recalls the day when being a woman saved her life.
Though equality may be a distant reality for many women in Iraq, in Halabja women have reached top levels of local government.
Mayor, university dean, director of the veterinary department, and health spokesperson are some of the senior posts held by women in the city of around 115,000 inhabitants.
It marks something of a departure for Iraqi Kurdistan, where public affairs have long been dominated by a handful of men.
Tradition and conservative values have meant that women face routine discrimination and are largely confined to the private sphere. “When you are a woman, climbing the ranks comes with a lot of sacrifices,” Faraj, 55, said.
A former deputy head of the municipality for 15 years, Faraj launched her political career many years earlier, when as a student she handed out leaflets against Saddam Hussein’s regime, which carried out an infamous chemical attack on the city shortly before the end of the Iran-iraq war in 1988.
She recalled one day when an armed man arrived demanding that she sign dubious paperwork. She refused. “I thought he would pull out his gun and shoot,” she said. “He got up and told me: ‘If you weren’t a woman, I know what I would have done’.”
A junior partner in the Kurdistan regional government in Arbil, the PUK holds the post of speaker in the regional parliament, which it also awarded to a woman, Rewaz Faiq.
The party “believes in equality between men and women in all domains,” Faraj said. “This has allowed us to achieve gender balance in administrative posts in Halabja,” said the head of the municipality.
Halabja prides itself on having had a woman mayor, Adela Khanum, in the first decades of the 20th century. Now it has another, Nuxsha Nasih. —
When you are a woman, climbing the ranks comes with a lot of sacrifices.” Kwestan Faraj
Head of Halabja municipality