Women’s rights in Kurdistan highlighted during University of Central Florida discussion
ORLANDO, Fla. — Zhala Sabir, Director for Congressional and Academic Affairs for the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq’s (KRG) Office in the United States, delivered a highly personal address on women’s rights in the Kurdistan Region at the University of Central Florida (UCF). The forum entitled “Women and Leadership: A Global Perspective” attracted nearly 125 people, including members of the university press and student groups. UCF is home to the Kurdish Political Studies Initiative.
Ms. Sabir highlighted the positive measures the KRG has taken to address women’s issues, including a law that reserves 30 percent of the seats in Parliament for women, resulting today in a record of 36 women seated in Parliament. She also noted that the government created the Supreme Women’s Council, an independent and professional body that seeks to advance the KRG’s objectives and strategies with regard to women’s issues.
“The Kurdistan Region has a strong women’s rights movement that has yielded tremendous influence and who today are lobbying the Kurdistan Regional Government to pass legislation that eliminates many of the archaic and harmful practices towards women, common to the Middle East region,” said Ms. Sabir. “To change this, we understand the need for the government, including our parliament, to work together with our Regions Civil Society, human rights groups, religious leaders and educators to find solutions and if necessary enact, and importantly enforce legislations.”
She underscored that progress by recollecting how her family had to flee Iraq in 1982, one day before Iraq’s borders were sealed by Saddam. Ms. Sabir’s family relocated to London, where there was a growing Kurdish community that kept alive Kurdish culture and traditions in a “world that was a miniature Kurdistan.”
“Growing up I never witnessed or heard of Kurdish women to be anything less than equal to men,” she said. “This freedom from fear and opportunity for a free life is ultimately what our parents sacrificed their home, careers, money, personal items, friends and family for.” At the same time, for women living in Kurdistan, under Saddam and his ‘Republic of Fear’, basic survival was their main occupation, she said.
Ms. Sabir further stressed that the KRG is working to ensure that all people receive a quality education. Today, 49 percent of all students enrolled in universities are women. She concluded by looking to the future, and discussed the benefits of the large Kurdish Diaspora, which she believes will continue to bring to the Region a diverse set of skills and outlooks that will benefit the Region and women.
“We acknowledge the obstacles that confront women in their professional endeavor,” Ms. Sabir said, “but we will never be discouraged to make sure improvements are being made. Thankfully, with the help and tenacity of brave and good men and women, we can see that improvements are being made but there is still so much more to do.”
Click here to see the full speech.
Tagged in: KRG, Kurdistan, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Kuristan Regional Government, University of Central Florida, women's rights, Zhala Sabir
