COMMENTATOR (COMM.): Previously on Life...
NITIN DESAI: Socially developed society should almost certainly have reasonably high status for women.
MAIRO BELLO: From the day they were put in their cradles they've been telling them that "You have no other function in life than to marry and start bearing children"
JAMES WOLFENSOHN: Women are central to the whole issue of development - but for cultural reasons and historic reasons, they've never been given a fair shake.
COMM: It may not be so unusual today to see women training with Kalashnikovs. But for these Kurdish women of the government-backed Peshmerga Force it's as much about empowerment as about patriotism. At the end of a hard day's training these women may still be going home to fathers, husbands or brothers who could legally kill them "in the name of honour".
West of the Zagros mountains lies the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq, a region that has been in conflict with its three powerful neighbours - Iran, Turkey and Southern Iraq - for the last eighty years. Thousands of villages were destroyed and families forced into crowded collective towns and refugee camps. This has changed the very fabric of Kurdish society, unleashing a chain of violence - often against women. Autumn is approaching. In the mountain town of Qala Dzye the wedding season is coming to an end. Marriage for most Kurdish brides promises freedom and respectability. But for others, it can bring isolation, cruelty - even death.
This is the story of four courageous women activists. Part of the new movement to fight for women's rights in a society where the law offers little protection. Sulaimani - the cultural capital of Kurdistan. A bustling city where tradition and liberal thinking have always coexisted. Sulaimani is also a city where Kurdish women have long enjoyed freedoms unheard of in more rural areas. And it's the home of the Independent Women's Organisation - IWO: the most radical and outspoken women's group.
IWO has recently opened a shelter. The aim: to protect women living under threat of death from their families, and outcasts, with no where to go. Nasik is the founder. She gave up her career as a doctor to cure what she calls a more malignant disease: social injustice against women.
NASIK (TRANSLATION): Nowadays the killing of women has become an issue that all political parties and women's organisations are talking about openly. At the same time nothing has really been done to bring those people who battered or killed women to justice. Till now hundreds of women have been killed in Iraqi Kurdistan simply because they fell in love, or because they demanded their basic rights. Such as the right to divorce or to be treated as a human being or to be able to go outdoors - to be free to talk to other men. The response is more often than not murder.
COMM: Perception of a woman's immorality is often based on gossip and social pressure. For women, this uncertainty means living in constant fear of bringing shame to the honour of the family and of revenge.
Tara is one of the women at the shelter who fell in love. When she eloped with her fiancé, across the border to Iran to get married, her family threatened to kill her if she ever came back. Eight years later they decided that it was safe to return to her husband's village together with their two children. Even though money had been paid to Tara's family as compensation they received a visit in the middle of the night.
TARA (TRANSLATION): At one thirty in the morning while we were asleep in my husband's village, my brothers burst in and opened fire. As I woke up I saw my husband die before my eyes. I also suffered heavy injuries. I was shot six or seven times. My son was also shot in the leg. The bones in my leg and thigh were shattered and I lost some teeth.
COMM: Tara cannot forgive her family. She refuses to drop the charges against her brothers. Like Tara several women have brought their young children to the shelter. Reconciliation with families - directly or through the courts - is often slow and complicated. Waiting for a decision can take months. For some women there is no hope of a solution. For them and their children the centre could become both a shelter and a prison.
NASIK (TRANSLATION): We heard the news that a father had threatened to kill his daughter in town of Chamchamal so we went to rescue her and bring her back to the shelter. By the time we arrived he had already killed her. It seems that there had been a feud between two families and the daughter had been raped by two members of the other family. After four months the father killed his daughter because she was pregnant. We asked him why he had killed her. He answered us, "I know my daughter was innocent and that a crime was committed against her. But every day people were telling me that I should be ashamed of myself because of this situation. I couldn't look people in the eye. So I killed my daughter." Do you think those fathers don't love their daughters or sons their mothers? How is it possible that they can kill their beloved so easily?
This a very heavily male dominated society, a condition that is deeply rooted and reinforced everyday within the family and the society itself. These ideas are constantly repeated by television, radio. and newspapers. People read about it, watch it, and listen to it! Even the law reinforces male domination. The law tells you that you should never forgive your daughter if she has a relationship with a man, or your wife if she talks with another man. Religion reinforces this patriarchal society. In fact, religion is the height of patriarchy.
MULLAH MOHAMMED AMIN, Main Mosque, Sulaimani (Translation): Most of these incidents like killing women, suppressing them, burning them or even chopping off their arms and legs is because women are not respected in this society. Islam gives a lot of rights and respect to women. And unfortunately people are not following the rules of Islam. Though our people are Muslim they themselves don't understand Islam very well. So they break the law and commit these crimes.
COMM: In the House of Justice in Sulaimani, Beyan, a senior lawyer and member of the committee to change laws for women, specialises in defending women's cases.
BEYAN (TRANSLATION): Women haven't been given the opportunity to participate in the process of lawmaking. We have many laws which need revising. All the laws have been made by men and are very biased towards men. Furthermore most of the laws are no longer suitable for modern Kurdish society.
COMM: According to Iraqi law a man is given a lighter sentence for killing a female member of his family if he did it to protect family honour. The usual sentence of capital punishment is commuted to just one year or less. For a woman, killing her husband the sentence is still death.
BEYAN (TRANSLATION): Matters of honour are especially important in this society. In my opinion the question of honour is related directly to the subject of women. A lot of people treat honour like capital and for them their capital is women and should be guarded closely.
COMM: Many women don't have a say in choosing who they marry - they are still regarded as chattels. In rural areas girls are given away or exchanged by their male relatives. Few families want to give away their daughters without receiving a girl in return.
BEYAN (TRANSLATION): A woman's problems don't end with marriage. Being married doesn't mean that she is happy. Sometimes she has to bear life because divorce is so difficult and she will face a very tough time after her divorce. Even in the case of separation she can't live alone: she will have to go back to her family, lose her freedom of movement - maybe under the control of even the youngest male relative of the family. If she wants to separate from her husband she will also have to consider how she's going to provide for her children. She will be under a lot of pressure from everyone.
PART TWO
COMM: At the headquarters of the Independent Women's Organisation Nasik's team is preparing to visit the burns unit at Sulaimani Hospital. Women who can no longer face the pressure from husbands or in-laws in arranged marriages attempt suicide by dowsing themselves in kerosene and setting themselves alight. A hundred and fifty five women died of their burns last year in Sulaimani alone. But some survive. Naz is seventeen.
NAZ (TRANSLATION): My in-laws were harassing me. That night my husband wasn't in. But when he came home he also started to harass me. He wouldn't leave me alone so I poured kerosene all over myself. When I had changed my mind and went to rinse the kerosene off my husband goaded me and dared me to set myself alight. I went into the next room and lit the match. I still have problems with my in laws and my husband.
IWO COUNSELLOR (TRANSLATION): When we visit the hospital and discover a woman who has tried to set fire to herself it is usually because there is a problem with either her brother, her husband or with her in-laws. We talk to her, open a file for her and try to follow up her problems. If she wants separation or divorce we will seek legal advice. In the case that she has problems with her husband or her in-laws we try to mediate. We get involved as much as she wants us to and we will use any means to find a solution for her problems.
COMM: But there have been significant improvements since 1991 when the women's movement began. Rubar is a literacy teacher for the women's group called Zhinan. They run literacy classes, health clinics and technical training workshops as well as promoting equality for women. Many Kurdish women are still illiterate. Because of the war they had no chance of an education. Later they were too busy with their large families.
RUBAR (TRANSLATION): When the women joined the literacy class they were very shy - they didn't talk much. By being in the class, visiting each other and going on picnics gradually they started to be more open and to get to know each other.
Up to now we've had three picnics. Before they came to classes they stayed at home within their four walls. They were unable to go out and meet people. They were ignorant of many aspects of normal social life. They learnt from us and from each other, even travelling to class opened their minds.
COMM: The women are heading for Qaradagh to visit women in another village literacy programme.
RUBAR (TRANSLATION): We wanted you to see life in the village. That's why we brought you to this nice little village called Qaradagh. Of course we are all sisters now. We are very happy to meet you.
COMM: Outside the classroom the girls are eager to use their new found skills.
GIRLS: Q - A - R - A - DAGH [laughter] Qaradagh!
RUBAR (TRANSLATION): Even though I have graduated from Teachers' Training Institute I still can't talk with the other sex. Even if it's just a harmless conversation I am worried about what people will say or think. Since we were children we were always repressed - taught to submit - constantly warned to stay away from boys. That's why we were afraid of them. Like me for example! Our parents taught us to be like this. It's still deep inside us even though we are now adults. I am a teacher and I am still afraid.
COMM: Ironically one area of life where women are not afraid is the Peshmerga Force. Peshmerga means the one who looks death in the face. Founded by the government in 1997 it now has over five hundred recruits. Thirty one year old Rezan is their commander. Schoolgirls, housewives, widows and sisters of the martyrs all call daily in the hope of joining. Like many women in Kurdistan, Rezan's life has been changed by war. She herself spent two years in Iraqi prison. Her brother was hung and her fiancé died in conflict.
REZAN (TRANSLATION): Before the Kurdish uprising in 1991 there weren't any women's organisations. Women never thought about themselves. They only thought about the struggle against Saddam Hussein and Kurdish liberation. They didn't consider their own problems and suffering. Young women should be active players in shaping tomorrow's society. They should follow the example of European women and demand their rights. They should be free to wear what they want. They should be free to go where they want, they should be free to choose who they marry. They should be free from laws that discriminate against women. Men are still in control. Women should have the power to make decisions too. I teach them how to look after themselves. If they are living at home we teach them that they are equal to their brothers. There should be no discrimination. She should be as free as her brothers to go out. Like her brothers she should be left to do what she wants. We try to empower her so that her family trust her.
COMM: On April 12th 2000 the women's lobby was successful. Resolution 111 of Iraqi law - which gave men a lesser sentence for honour killings - was finally abolished.
END
NITIN DESAI: Socially developed society should almost certainly have reasonably high status for women.
MAIRO BELLO: From the day they were put in their cradles they've been telling them that "You have no other function in life than to marry and start bearing children"
JAMES WOLFENSOHN: Women are central to the whole issue of development - but for cultural reasons and historic reasons, they've never been given a fair shake.
COMM: It may not be so unusual today to see women training with Kalashnikovs. But for these Kurdish women of the government-backed Peshmerga Force it's as much about empowerment as about patriotism. At the end of a hard day's training these women may still be going home to fathers, husbands or brothers who could legally kill them "in the name of honour".
West of the Zagros mountains lies the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq, a region that has been in conflict with its three powerful neighbours - Iran, Turkey and Southern Iraq - for the last eighty years. Thousands of villages were destroyed and families forced into crowded collective towns and refugee camps. This has changed the very fabric of Kurdish society, unleashing a chain of violence - often against women. Autumn is approaching. In the mountain town of Qala Dzye the wedding season is coming to an end. Marriage for most Kurdish brides promises freedom and respectability. But for others, it can bring isolation, cruelty - even death.
This is the story of four courageous women activists. Part of the new movement to fight for women's rights in a society where the law offers little protection. Sulaimani - the cultural capital of Kurdistan. A bustling city where tradition and liberal thinking have always coexisted. Sulaimani is also a city where Kurdish women have long enjoyed freedoms unheard of in more rural areas. And it's the home of the Independent Women's Organisation - IWO: the most radical and outspoken women's group.
IWO has recently opened a shelter. The aim: to protect women living under threat of death from their families, and outcasts, with no where to go. Nasik is the founder. She gave up her career as a doctor to cure what she calls a more malignant disease: social injustice against women.
NASIK (TRANSLATION): Nowadays the killing of women has become an issue that all political parties and women's organisations are talking about openly. At the same time nothing has really been done to bring those people who battered or killed women to justice. Till now hundreds of women have been killed in Iraqi Kurdistan simply because they fell in love, or because they demanded their basic rights. Such as the right to divorce or to be treated as a human being or to be able to go outdoors - to be free to talk to other men. The response is more often than not murder.
COMM: Perception of a woman's immorality is often based on gossip and social pressure. For women, this uncertainty means living in constant fear of bringing shame to the honour of the family and of revenge.
Tara is one of the women at the shelter who fell in love. When she eloped with her fiancé, across the border to Iran to get married, her family threatened to kill her if she ever came back. Eight years later they decided that it was safe to return to her husband's village together with their two children. Even though money had been paid to Tara's family as compensation they received a visit in the middle of the night.
TARA (TRANSLATION): At one thirty in the morning while we were asleep in my husband's village, my brothers burst in and opened fire. As I woke up I saw my husband die before my eyes. I also suffered heavy injuries. I was shot six or seven times. My son was also shot in the leg. The bones in my leg and thigh were shattered and I lost some teeth.
COMM: Tara cannot forgive her family. She refuses to drop the charges against her brothers. Like Tara several women have brought their young children to the shelter. Reconciliation with families - directly or through the courts - is often slow and complicated. Waiting for a decision can take months. For some women there is no hope of a solution. For them and their children the centre could become both a shelter and a prison.
NASIK (TRANSLATION): We heard the news that a father had threatened to kill his daughter in town of Chamchamal so we went to rescue her and bring her back to the shelter. By the time we arrived he had already killed her. It seems that there had been a feud between two families and the daughter had been raped by two members of the other family. After four months the father killed his daughter because she was pregnant. We asked him why he had killed her. He answered us, "I know my daughter was innocent and that a crime was committed against her. But every day people were telling me that I should be ashamed of myself because of this situation. I couldn't look people in the eye. So I killed my daughter." Do you think those fathers don't love their daughters or sons their mothers? How is it possible that they can kill their beloved so easily?
This a very heavily male dominated society, a condition that is deeply rooted and reinforced everyday within the family and the society itself. These ideas are constantly repeated by television, radio. and newspapers. People read about it, watch it, and listen to it! Even the law reinforces male domination. The law tells you that you should never forgive your daughter if she has a relationship with a man, or your wife if she talks with another man. Religion reinforces this patriarchal society. In fact, religion is the height of patriarchy.
MULLAH MOHAMMED AMIN, Main Mosque, Sulaimani (Translation): Most of these incidents like killing women, suppressing them, burning them or even chopping off their arms and legs is because women are not respected in this society. Islam gives a lot of rights and respect to women. And unfortunately people are not following the rules of Islam. Though our people are Muslim they themselves don't understand Islam very well. So they break the law and commit these crimes.
COMM: In the House of Justice in Sulaimani, Beyan, a senior lawyer and member of the committee to change laws for women, specialises in defending women's cases.
BEYAN (TRANSLATION): Women haven't been given the opportunity to participate in the process of lawmaking. We have many laws which need revising. All the laws have been made by men and are very biased towards men. Furthermore most of the laws are no longer suitable for modern Kurdish society.
COMM: According to Iraqi law a man is given a lighter sentence for killing a female member of his family if he did it to protect family honour. The usual sentence of capital punishment is commuted to just one year or less. For a woman, killing her husband the sentence is still death.
BEYAN (TRANSLATION): Matters of honour are especially important in this society. In my opinion the question of honour is related directly to the subject of women. A lot of people treat honour like capital and for them their capital is women and should be guarded closely.
COMM: Many women don't have a say in choosing who they marry - they are still regarded as chattels. In rural areas girls are given away or exchanged by their male relatives. Few families want to give away their daughters without receiving a girl in return.
BEYAN (TRANSLATION): A woman's problems don't end with marriage. Being married doesn't mean that she is happy. Sometimes she has to bear life because divorce is so difficult and she will face a very tough time after her divorce. Even in the case of separation she can't live alone: she will have to go back to her family, lose her freedom of movement - maybe under the control of even the youngest male relative of the family. If she wants to separate from her husband she will also have to consider how she's going to provide for her children. She will be under a lot of pressure from everyone.
PART TWO
COMM: At the headquarters of the Independent Women's Organisation Nasik's team is preparing to visit the burns unit at Sulaimani Hospital. Women who can no longer face the pressure from husbands or in-laws in arranged marriages attempt suicide by dowsing themselves in kerosene and setting themselves alight. A hundred and fifty five women died of their burns last year in Sulaimani alone. But some survive. Naz is seventeen.
NAZ (TRANSLATION): My in-laws were harassing me. That night my husband wasn't in. But when he came home he also started to harass me. He wouldn't leave me alone so I poured kerosene all over myself. When I had changed my mind and went to rinse the kerosene off my husband goaded me and dared me to set myself alight. I went into the next room and lit the match. I still have problems with my in laws and my husband.
IWO COUNSELLOR (TRANSLATION): When we visit the hospital and discover a woman who has tried to set fire to herself it is usually because there is a problem with either her brother, her husband or with her in-laws. We talk to her, open a file for her and try to follow up her problems. If she wants separation or divorce we will seek legal advice. In the case that she has problems with her husband or her in-laws we try to mediate. We get involved as much as she wants us to and we will use any means to find a solution for her problems.
COMM: But there have been significant improvements since 1991 when the women's movement began. Rubar is a literacy teacher for the women's group called Zhinan. They run literacy classes, health clinics and technical training workshops as well as promoting equality for women. Many Kurdish women are still illiterate. Because of the war they had no chance of an education. Later they were too busy with their large families.
RUBAR (TRANSLATION): When the women joined the literacy class they were very shy - they didn't talk much. By being in the class, visiting each other and going on picnics gradually they started to be more open and to get to know each other.
Up to now we've had three picnics. Before they came to classes they stayed at home within their four walls. They were unable to go out and meet people. They were ignorant of many aspects of normal social life. They learnt from us and from each other, even travelling to class opened their minds.
COMM: The women are heading for Qaradagh to visit women in another village literacy programme.
RUBAR (TRANSLATION): We wanted you to see life in the village. That's why we brought you to this nice little village called Qaradagh. Of course we are all sisters now. We are very happy to meet you.
COMM: Outside the classroom the girls are eager to use their new found skills.
GIRLS: Q - A - R - A - DAGH [laughter] Qaradagh!
RUBAR (TRANSLATION): Even though I have graduated from Teachers' Training Institute I still can't talk with the other sex. Even if it's just a harmless conversation I am worried about what people will say or think. Since we were children we were always repressed - taught to submit - constantly warned to stay away from boys. That's why we were afraid of them. Like me for example! Our parents taught us to be like this. It's still deep inside us even though we are now adults. I am a teacher and I am still afraid.
COMM: Ironically one area of life where women are not afraid is the Peshmerga Force. Peshmerga means the one who looks death in the face. Founded by the government in 1997 it now has over five hundred recruits. Thirty one year old Rezan is their commander. Schoolgirls, housewives, widows and sisters of the martyrs all call daily in the hope of joining. Like many women in Kurdistan, Rezan's life has been changed by war. She herself spent two years in Iraqi prison. Her brother was hung and her fiancé died in conflict.
REZAN (TRANSLATION): Before the Kurdish uprising in 1991 there weren't any women's organisations. Women never thought about themselves. They only thought about the struggle against Saddam Hussein and Kurdish liberation. They didn't consider their own problems and suffering. Young women should be active players in shaping tomorrow's society. They should follow the example of European women and demand their rights. They should be free to wear what they want. They should be free to go where they want, they should be free to choose who they marry. They should be free from laws that discriminate against women. Men are still in control. Women should have the power to make decisions too. I teach them how to look after themselves. If they are living at home we teach them that they are equal to their brothers. There should be no discrimination. She should be as free as her brothers to go out. Like her brothers she should be left to do what she wants. We try to empower her so that her family trust her.
COMM: On April 12th 2000 the women's lobby was successful. Resolution 111 of Iraqi law - which gave men a lesser sentence for honour killings - was finally abolished.
END