Date Submitted
2015-05-04 14:51:58
First Name
Khanzad
Middle Name
Sadi
Last Name
Ali
Country
Kurdistan- Iraq
Organization/Institution
Kurdistan Regional Government
Primary E-mail
Occupation
Secretary of Women's Rights Monitoring Board
Please choose the theme
2 Women’s Empowerment
Please briefly describe your organisation
Women's Rights Monitoring Board is a board in council of Ministers which is monitoring all projects and activities in the government that implement for women issues.
Statement Title
Gender Sensitive Emergency Respond
Statement (600 words limit)
It is not easy to be a woman in the Middle East. An area with incorrect habits, cultures and beliefs. A masculine society where man is dominant and comes in the first place while women are only means to make the men’s lives happier, if unable to do so, she doesn’t worth to live. This is the woman's life is, in the Middle East in general.
Men have always been behind all the wars in the history while women are the most affected gender by these wars. Men go to the battlefield; they either kill or are killed, while women if not present in the battlefield, they lose the men who are regarded to be their protectors, whether their fathers, brothers husbands or sons. Thus, they suffer all the bitterness of life, as being displaced or sold in the captive markets, facing poverty and rape. That is to say, women pay for the wars which is created by men.
Today, in many of the Arabic countries, women become victims of the flawed political systems and wars.Kurdistan also receives a big share of the misery I mentioned, because we share the borders with Arabic countries in three sides.
Today Kurdistan is fighting the biggest terroristic group on behalf of the entire world, namely ISIS. You may know that, during last year attack by ISIS on Shangal, which is a Kurdish suburb, thousands of Ezidi women were killed, raped, tortured, and a large number of them are being sold in the enslaved markets in some Arabic countries.
In Kurdistan, currently women have their special status and play important active roles in all aspects of life. At the same time, the Kurdish parliament and government through amending certain laws, are working for gender balance and equality. Nevertheless, Kurdish women have greater expectations and demand more. Despite all the sufferings that Kurdish women have gone through, they have now attracted the attention of the entire world and have become the symbol of sacrifice, courage and resistance. Kurdish women are fighting the terrorists in the battlefields beside the male fighters and the Peshmarga forces, who fight for restoring peace and security to Kobane, Shangal and the whole Kurdistan.
As a woman, I believe that I was born in a wrong place and improper time. My birth and my death are predestined for me. The only thing I am proud of in this life is that I am a Kurdish woman. Thanks God, I was created as a woman.