The Political Role of Minority Women in Iraq After 2003

Abstract

Today’s world is characterized by rapid transformations in societies and in relations between individuals as well as between states. In such circumstances, the position occupied by women and the role they should play in this developed world must be reconsidered. It has become self-evident that the progress of societies is measured to the degree of advancement of women in the fields of economic, social, cultural and political life, and equality of women with men has become a reality in some societies, as there is no type of oppression against women. The governments of these countries are preparing the necessary requirements to put into practice the principles contained in their constitutions regarding women. However, eliminating the remnants of the past needs more efforts to create conditions that allow women to fully benefit from these rights. In many other countries, governments have adopted the principle of equality in a purely formal way, as they do not take the necessary steps to ensure the application of these principles.

Minority women in Iraq suffer from absence and weakness in explaining their role in light of the confusion and political chaos, as the political system in Iraq after 2003 has faced many problems that have largely cast a shadow on the role of Iraqi women in general and minority women in particular, and despite that the Iraqi constitution has obligated the political system and political forces to guarantee the rights of women in general with regard to political, economic and social rights, still there are many obstacles that prevent the exercise of a strong and effective role for minorities and their women in particular, as the absence of desire, political will, partisanship and excessive fanaticism,sectarianism by the political forces has made it difficult to find a space and a place for minority women to participate in various activities in the political system in the political, economic and social aspects.