[state] women’s political participation

For women in Iraq, the coming national elections offer both a promise and a reminder of the difficulty of change in this male-dominated culture. The Constitution calls for at least 25 percent of Parliament’s seats to go to women. But the first women elected in 2005 have had little effect, analysts and women who are members of Parliament say. Now, as the campaign begins for the country’s second post-invasion parliamentary vote, on March 7, some women say a new female political class is starting to emerge. In one sign of this development, 12 women from outside the political system have formed their own party, with a platform built on women’s rights and a jobs program for Iraq’s more than 700,000 widows.

  ومفتى الجماعة يرجع الرفض لـ«الخوف على المرأة ومنها. أعلنت جماعة الإخوان المسلمين رفضها التام تعديل لائحة مكتب الإرشاد الداخلية، وذلك على خلفية عدد من المطالبات من داخل الجماعة بضرورة تعديل اللائحة قبل انتخابات المكتب لضمان دخول أعضاء يمثلون المرأة والشباب. وقال الشيخ محمد عبدالله الخطيب، عضو مكتب الإرشاد ومفتى الجماعة، لـ«المصرى اليوم»: «لا يوجد أى تفكير فى تعديل اللائحة الداخلية، وسوف نقوم بتحويل كل من طالب بتعديلها للتحقيق تمهيداً لإيقاف وتجميد هؤلاء عن العمل داخل التنظيم».

‘Give peace a chance’ may just be another cliché for many, but for women who have suffered the ravages of war, endless strife and other forms of conflict, joining hands to find meaningful solutions to their collective aspiration lends it a whole new meaning. "For 5,000 years women have been sitting in ‘jirgas’ (tribal councils), at least in Afghanistan. We have ‘jirgas’ all over Pakistan’s tribal areas also, and we thought why not introduce this concept?"