Saturday, March 19th 2011 9:36 PM
By Goran Sabah Ghafour
Kurdistan is an autonomous region in north of Iraq. Its population is five million and half. The region is on the path of democracy and development in economic, political, social and cultural aspects. The Kurdish society in Iraq is patriarchal and male dominance is observed in all the fields ranging from education, politics, economy, business, trade, sport and family. Kurdish women have been suffering from this male dominance throughout the recorded course of history. However, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) strives to turn down the barriers facing women to turn out participate in all the fields, above them all politics and economy. Since violence against women is a big deal in the region, the KRG’s interior ministry has established a Commission to Investigate Violence Against Women (CIVAW). Women in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region suffer from many issues such as honor killing, circumcision, dependency, underrepresentation and domestic violence. But the issue of self-burning amongst Kurdish women is the focus of this report. There are several reasons why Kurdish women set themselves on fire.
Fear is one of the reasons. Fear from small and big things has many times led Kurdish women to end their lives with fire. But fear from whom? From men either be her father, brother, husband or even son. Big things: a woman may commit suicide with fire when her brother and/or father know that she is in love with a man. She is afraid from them. If they know the BIG SECRET (love affair) they might hurt, beat and in the worst possible scenario kill her which is called honor killing. This is why she decides to end her life by herself not by the hands of her brother and father. All the love affairs between men and women are secrets. If people reveal the secret then her life is in danger but the life of the man is not. In such a patriarchal society love affair is pride for men but losing honor for women.
Arranged marriage or forced marriage is the second reason behind self-burning by Kurdish women. Sometimes, fathers and brothers force the woman and put so much pressure on her to marry somebody she does love but the men like her to do so. In such cases, she has no choice but to commit suicide. Many women in such situation accept and marry the guy chosen by her father and brother. Some commit suicide and very few resist: meaning they neither accept the marriage nor fire themselves but repeatedly say “no”.
The forced or arranged marriage sometimes leads to the third reason if the guy would treat her badly or would turn out to be a bad husband. Does that happen? Of course it happens often. Bad treatment means domestic violence, disrespect, belittling, rebuking, hurting her in sexual intercourse, being rude with her, and not buying cloths for her. The golden card for women in the male dominant Kurdish society is a happy marriage. If it is arranged by the fathers and brothers, then the marriage would often turn out to be a sad one. Here she cannot either choose divorce because nor goes back to her father’s house because she does not have a job to live on. At the end of the day, if she chooses to go back to her father’s home, he will send her back to the same bad husband. This is why she chooses to end her life with fire.
The absence of education and free economy is the fourth reason why Kurdish women set themselves on fire. If a woman has a job and her own free economy, then she easily can ask for divorce and live by her own. She will be carefree from her husband and her fathers and brothers.
Treating girls badly at home is the fifth reason. Men (fathers and brothers) think of the daughter/sister as a maiden at home. She has to serve them: cook, do the laundry, take care of the house, clean and all other house-related details. This, on one hand, is already a big pressure on the girl and being rude with her adds a lot to the pressure on the other.
Let me haste now to explain why Kurdish women mostly use fire to end their lives. They live with fire and it is a main part of their life because they use fire to cook. The tools they use for cooking are gas burners, premiz and tabakh which they work with kerosene. So they have gas and kerosene at hand easily to use it to end their lives.
The CIVAW figures published in 2009 show that 414 women in Kurdistan Region were burned. That figure includes accidents and intentional burning by women themselves. The CIVAW figures show that %57 of those cases was accidents and %38 of the women burned themselves and %5 was unknown. But its latest figures issues in 2011 says self-burning in Kurdistan in 2010 was plunged by %50 while the accidental burn soared by %20.
The Kurdish government strives to tackle this issue by law. The Kurdish parliament issued a law in 2007 that those behind women’s self-burning would be punished by law. That means a bad husband; fathers and brothers could be punished if proven in the investigation that they were a reason pushing the girl to end her life. This is why the men often claim that the burning was accidental. Here it comes another issue which leaves the truth murky. The rate of those women who die from accidental fire is much more than the rate of those who actually set themselves on fire. Sometimes, the family claims that the burn was accidental. However, the government will form committees to probe in the case to prove the truth.
Women organizations, NGOs and government work together and gather efforts together to turn down the phenomenon. They’ve recently come up with certain agendas to promote women education and participation in the economic, political, media, educational, social and cultural life. The Kurdish parliament now has %30 percent of women representation. There are dozens of women organizations working to emancipate and educate women. All these efforts and plans are good signs and indications that women life in the Kurdistan region heads to a better future.
(AKnews)
You can reach the writer at: lohangoran@yahoo.com
By Goran Sabah Ghafour
Kurdistan is an autonomous region in north of Iraq. Its population is five million and half. The region is on the path of democracy and development in economic, political, social and cultural aspects. The Kurdish society in Iraq is patriarchal and male dominance is observed in all the fields ranging from education, politics, economy, business, trade, sport and family. Kurdish women have been suffering from this male dominance throughout the recorded course of history. However, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) strives to turn down the barriers facing women to turn out participate in all the fields, above them all politics and economy. Since violence against women is a big deal in the region, the KRG’s interior ministry has established a Commission to Investigate Violence Against Women (CIVAW). Women in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region suffer from many issues such as honor killing, circumcision, dependency, underrepresentation and domestic violence. But the issue of self-burning amongst Kurdish women is the focus of this report. There are several reasons why Kurdish women set themselves on fire.
Fear is one of the reasons. Fear from small and big things has many times led Kurdish women to end their lives with fire. But fear from whom? From men either be her father, brother, husband or even son. Big things: a woman may commit suicide with fire when her brother and/or father know that she is in love with a man. She is afraid from them. If they know the BIG SECRET (love affair) they might hurt, beat and in the worst possible scenario kill her which is called honor killing. This is why she decides to end her life by herself not by the hands of her brother and father. All the love affairs between men and women are secrets. If people reveal the secret then her life is in danger but the life of the man is not. In such a patriarchal society love affair is pride for men but losing honor for women.Arranged marriage or forced marriage is the second reason behind self-burning by Kurdish women. Sometimes, fathers and brothers force the woman and put so much pressure on her to marry somebody she does love but the men like her to do so. In such cases, she has no choice but to commit suicide. Many women in such situation accept and marry the guy chosen by her father and brother. Some commit suicide and very few resist: meaning they neither accept the marriage nor fire themselves but repeatedly say “no”.
The forced or arranged marriage sometimes leads to the third reason if the guy would treat her badly or would turn out to be a bad husband. Does that happen? Of course it happens often. Bad treatment means domestic violence, disrespect, belittling, rebuking, hurting her in sexual intercourse, being rude with her, and not buying cloths for her. The golden card for women in the male dominant Kurdish society is a happy marriage. If it is arranged by the fathers and brothers, then the marriage would often turn out to be a sad one. Here she cannot either choose divorce because nor goes back to her father’s house because she does not have a job to live on. At the end of the day, if she chooses to go back to her father’s home, he will send her back to the same bad husband. This is why she chooses to end her life with fire.
The absence of education and free economy is the fourth reason why Kurdish women set themselves on fire. If a woman has a job and her own free economy, then she easily can ask for divorce and live by her own. She will be carefree from her husband and her fathers and brothers.
Treating girls badly at home is the fifth reason. Men (fathers and brothers) think of the daughter/sister as a maiden at home. She has to serve them: cook, do the laundry, take care of the house, clean and all other house-related details. This, on one hand, is already a big pressure on the girl and being rude with her adds a lot to the pressure on the other.
Let me haste now to explain why Kurdish women mostly use fire to end their lives. They live with fire and it is a main part of their life because they use fire to cook. The tools they use for cooking are gas burners, premiz and tabakh which they work with kerosene. So they have gas and kerosene at hand easily to use it to end their lives.
The CIVAW figures published in 2009 show that 414 women in Kurdistan Region were burned. That figure includes accidents and intentional burning by women themselves. The CIVAW figures show that %57 of those cases was accidents and %38 of the women burned themselves and %5 was unknown. But its latest figures issues in 2011 says self-burning in Kurdistan in 2010 was plunged by %50 while the accidental burn soared by %20.
The Kurdish government strives to tackle this issue by law. The Kurdish parliament issued a law in 2007 that those behind women’s self-burning would be punished by law. That means a bad husband; fathers and brothers could be punished if proven in the investigation that they were a reason pushing the girl to end her life. This is why the men often claim that the burning was accidental. Here it comes another issue which leaves the truth murky. The rate of those women who die from accidental fire is much more than the rate of those who actually set themselves on fire. Sometimes, the family claims that the burn was accidental. However, the government will form committees to probe in the case to prove the truth.
Women organizations, NGOs and government work together and gather efforts together to turn down the phenomenon. They’ve recently come up with certain agendas to promote women education and participation in the economic, political, media, educational, social and cultural life. The Kurdish parliament now has %30 percent of women representation. There are dozens of women organizations working to emancipate and educate women. All these efforts and plans are good signs and indications that women life in the Kurdistan region heads to a better future.
(AKnews)
You can reach the writer at: lohangoran@yahoo.com
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