Baghdad mayor says women can lead the country’s anti-corruption fight
When she was a top civil servant, Zikra Alwash worried about education.
Now, as mayor of Baghdad, the country’s capital, it is corruption that dominates the agenda during her working hours.
She is in office at a time of public disdain for many politicians. People recently took to the streets in anger at corruption, particularly in southern Iraq, and the need for better public services and government.
With the capital still the nation’s power centre, however, she has placed the corruption fight – and women’s role in it – as her biggest campaign.
The civil engineer, 50, mayor since 2015, has given herself a decade to revive the war-torn city, achieve gender equality and place women at the heart of central government.
“The ‘women united against corruption’ campaign was launched by Iraqi females aiming to fight corruption and fraud,” she told The National. “We can safely say that women’s involvement in this matter has been very limited.”
Bad government has been central to Iraq’s problems, with international monitors routinely putting the country near the top of the list for failing states.
Many Iraqis believe that they live in the world’s most corrupt country – Transparency International ranked it 169th of 180 nations on its Corruption Perceptions Index last year.
Ms Alwash also chairs a national committee for women’s advancement in Iraq. Reversing decades of endemic corruption, she said, offers a chance to boost women’s involvement in a fragile political system.
Women’s attempts to gain equal pay for equal work, as well as leadership and management positions, can be heavily hindered by fraud, she said.
As the first female mayor in Baghdad’s history, she has crossed such barriers, although the task of governing a war-broken city remains mammoth, regardless of gender.
The city’s infrastructure development was hindered by a 13-year international embargo against Saddam Hussein’s regime, while the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled him destroyed much of it. Subsequent years of sectarian violence and the rise and fall of ISIS has added to the dysfunction.
Today, Baghdad has more than seven million inhabitants – up 45 per cent since 2015, a year after ISIS seized a third of Iraq and forced many to flee the city, according to the most up-to-date figures available.
When ISIS invaded Iraq, the group had a huge impact on women – they violated their basic rights ZIKRA ALWASH Mayor of Baghdad
Baghdad has been in decline for decades, with many districts abandoned. Yet a rising population has coincided with chronic traffic jams that pump out suffocating pollution.
“Plans are under way to improve services across the capital, particularly the city’s infrastructure, after the increase in population,” Ms Alwash said.
The mayor has set her sights on reducing municipal expenditure and ensuring that institutions are self-reliant. She also aims to attract foreign investment to increase the capital’s income.
“Revenues made do not cover our staff salaries and the municipality’s allocations. We have taken into account the economic crisis the country is going through, as well as its brutal war against ISIS,” she said.
They have also found solutions to ensure basic services are distributed around the capital.
Despite the challenges, Ms Alwash vowed to “maintain the existing infrastructure of Baghdad and to facilitate projects that will cater to its inhabitants”.
A former director general at Iraq’s higher-education ministry, the mayor was appointed by Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, taking over from a predecessor long embroiled in allegations of corruption.
Corruption still deters the progress that women have made in attaining rights to match those of their male counterparts, she said.
The number of women in central government remains low, but Ms Alwash has vowed to address the issue.
“We are always calling on the government to increase women’s representation in holding leadership roles in ministries and legislative bodies.”
The cabinet is where women can impose their presence, she said, while highlighting the importance of the government in supporting women by setting up training courses on project or business management.
“We have proven that women in legislative bodies are excellent in their positions, but women need to be empowered economically through workshops and programmes carried out by the government and international bodies.”
Ms Alwash said that security would be critical for achieving such goals, and that while ISIS had been defeated, countering the group’s ideology would be a long campaign.
“When ISIS invaded Iraq, the group had a huge impact on women – they left them displaced, widowed, they violated their basic rights and in some cases even raped them.”
The municipality fears an ISIS-led resurgence of attacks on Baghdad residents, as well as its staff.
When Baghdad was going through security challenges, “we had many employees under attack, many of them were martyred”, she said.
Yet somehow the capital is still managing the present transitional period of reconstruction and investment.
“Our staff are on high alert, we are managing to offer services and to achieve justice,” she said.