Status of Iraqi women compared to other Gulf States
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| In Iraq there is no law that women cover their heads or faces, in contrast to other Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, and in contrast to Afghanistan under the Taliban. Here women with and without headscarves attend a pro-Saddam Hussein election rally, October 16, 2002. Photo: Associated Press |
| Iraqi women won the right to vote and were first elected to congress in 1980. Women are not allowed to vote or be elected in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brunei, Qatar or Oman. (UN Development Program, 1999, p. 238.) Many of these U.S. allies hold no elections at all. Bahrain held its last election in 1973. (UN, 1995, p. 217-219.) ____________________________________________________________________ In 1987, 13% of the seats in congress in Iraq were filled by women, in 1994 11% were. To compare, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait had no women in any ministerial or representative capacity. Iran had 4% and Turkey had 2% women in parliament, Jordan had 6%, Israel had 9%, Pakistan had 2% and the U.S. had 5%.(UN, 1995, p. 174.) ____________________________________________________________________ Like most countries around the world, nearly all Gulf states have provisions for paid maternity leave. Iraq provides 62 days of maternity leave, with the woman's wages paid 100% by the Social Security system. (By contrast, the U.S. law provides 12 weeks unpaid sick leave, but only if your employer has over 50 employees and only if you have been working for the same employer for over a year. There are only a handful of countries in the world that still provide no paid parental leave , the U.S. among them.) However, Iraq has more women in the paid workforce than many other Gulf states. In 1994, Iraq recorded that 22% of paid workforce participation was by women. For comparison, paid workforce participation by women was 7% in Saudi Arabia, 11% in Jordan, 18% in Syria, 7% in Qatar, 9% in UAE, and 23% in Kuwait. It was 33% in Israel and 42% in the U.S. for that year. (UN, 1995, p. 144.) ____________________________________________________________________ Iraq also has significant female participation in managerial and administrative positions. For example, in 1990 women in Iraq filled 22% of the teaching positions at universities, and filled 13% of administrative and managerial jobs. In other Gulf states the picture is dimmer. For managerial and professional jobs, less than 1% of these were held by women in Saudi Arabia, 1% held such positions in Qatar, 2% in such positions in UAE, 5% in Kuwait, and 8% in Bahrain. The figure is 3% in Iran and Pakistan. (UN, 1995, p. 174. Administrative and managerial data from 1985/1992.) _____________________________________________________________________ Iraq signed onto and acceded to CEDAW, the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, in 1986. A few other Gulf states have recently signed on, including Saudi Arabia (2000), Bahrain (2002) and Syria (2003). Jordan signed in 1992 and Kuwait signed on in 1994. Others have neither signed onto or acceded to the convention, including: United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Brunei. The U.S. has signed but not ratified or acceded to CEDAW. (UN, 1991, pp. 115-116 and UN, 1995, p. 174. Also the UN's website at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/states.htm) ______________________________________________________________________ Sources United Nations, The World's Women: Trends and Statistics, 1970-1990. United Nations, New York: 1991. United Nations, The World's Women 1995: Trends and Statistics. United Nations, New York: 1995. United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 1999. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford: 1999. |