As we have discussed over and over here at feministing, we are very skeptical of this new police/military style democracy emerging in Iraq and a peace process that has led to more deaths recently then before and this constitution that will supposedly support women's rights.
via Washington Post...
The draft going before voters Saturday specifies equality regardless of a person's sex and aspires to reserve 25 percent of the seats in the National Assembly for women.But it also gives each Iraqi household the option of using religious law to decide matters of inheritance, divorce, alimony and other family issues. Rights advocates have said they fear women will be coerced by male relatives into accepting the least favorable interpretations of religious law -- forbidding divorce without a husband's permission, for example, or cutting a daughter's inheritance compared with a son's.
The constitution also sets aside seats for Muslim clerics on the Supreme Court, which will weigh the constitutionality of all laws. In a country where an Iranian-influenced Shiite religious party holds the balance of power, that alarms proponents of women's rights.
The article also discusses my favorite topic,the connection between military intervention and the growth of fundamentalism.
Shiite marshals roam the southern city of Basra, chastising women for showing a bare arm or calf and beating them for picnicking with male friends. Female lawmakers from the governing Shiite religious parties talk with relish of establishing a husband's right to beat wives -- albeit subject to regulation. Female officials speak with approval of a woman in the southern city of Najaf who was denied a judgeship because of her sex.Milla says she has seen more and more colleagues retreat under head scarves, saying they fear becoming targets of the fundamentalism, linked to anti-American sentiment, that has been growing since the war.
They don't really elaborate on this growth of fundamentalism on behalf of women. But I know we have written about this before.
What do you think?
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i think it's pretty amazing the choices that forming our identities makes us take. i mean, i can't even imagine what's going through the mind of a really together woman in iraq right now... what comes first, her gender identity, religion, class status... does she see taking a stand against imperialism as the most important thing?
or are the women who espouse and enforce fundamentalism sell-outs or puppets? are they in on some kind of pyramid scheme of rights like so many people in our government?
is it a choice borne of fear or pragmatism? i have a friend who's working in afghanistan and iraq right now who's off-and-on worn a full burqua at times just to be able to get more done without being harrassed/questioned/assaulted... and i remember reading an article about a professional woman in saudi arabia who keeps all manner of apparel in her office (so she can dress western, observant or orthodox depending on who's coming to meet with her).
i wish there were more about this, it's really powerful... where we move as people with more agency here depends a lot on what the reality is on the ground there...