Today is International Women's Day, and women's peace groups around the world are issuing backgrounders and statements galore; in particular they are drawing attention to the very important issue of the decline of rights and security for women in Iraq since the US "liberation". [I've gotten four different ones in my inbox already.] One of the best ones I've seen came from
Madre, and since this is a resource we don't see cited very often in dKos land, I thought it might be worthwhile to pass it on.
Before you start to complain that security isn't a woman's issue per se, it might be helpful to remember that when social structures break down, it is women (and the weaker in society) who bear, in particular ways, the burdens that arise from that collapse. Thus these issues offer a good indicator of "bigger picture" state security questions.
Women: the canaries in the proverbial national security coal mine.
One Year Later: Women's Human Rights in "Liberated" Iraq
An International Women's Day Backgrounder from MADRE
By Yifat Susskind
Spring 2004
"We will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the
apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is
prosperous and free."
-George Bush, March 17, 2003, televised address.
A year after Bush's lofty promise, how are Iraqi women and families
faring under US occupation? Newspaper headlines attest to the ongoing
lack of state security in Iraq. Less examined is the status of human
security, the right of Iraqi women and families to have their basic
needs met and their human rights respected, protected and fulfilled.
This article explores six aspects of human security in Iraq-personal
security; water and food security; the rights to health care and
political participation; and economic security. After a year of
"liberation" at the hands of the US military, most Iraqi women find that
they are worse off on every count.
Since the "end of hostilities" in May, ongoing military violence and a
spike in violence against women in Iraq has curtailed all aspects of
women's lives, preventing many from leaving home, even for food, water
or medical treatment or to go to work or school. Conditions of daily
life are deteriorating, rather than improving, with most of Iraq still
experiencing power outages for an average of 16 hours a day. Children
sleep in the streets between rising piles of uncollected garbage.
Drinking water is contaminated and there are 12-hour waits to buy
gasoline or cooking fuel. In most of the country, there is no telephone
or postal service. As those primarily responsible for meeting the basic
needs of the population, Iraqi women have been forced to intensify their
work hauling water, preparing food and caring for children traumatized
by bombing, disease and malnutrition.
Because of gender discrimination, the needs of women themselves have
been the first to be sacrificed during these difficult times. Women have
been excluded from political decision-making, jeopardizing their rights
for the future. And women must struggle for rights within their families
and communities as well as against arbitrary rule by the US Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and whatever new government the CPA
installs. Iraqi women are doing just that -demanding rights and
resources- and MADRE is supporting their call. Like MADRE's partners
everywhere, Iraqi women affirm that state security can only be achieved
by guaranteeing human security and that any governing authority has the
obligation to fulfill women's demands for human rights and human
security.
The entire article is not only a great source of info about the current status of women in Iraq, but to my mind, an excellent starting point for recasting the idea of 'security' with some key indices.
Anytime some one wants to argue that the world is better off with Saddam gone, remind him/her that that might be true, but only if you don't include Iraqi women in your understanding of 'the world'.