IRAQI WOMEN DEMAND EQUAL RIGHTS

February 18, 2004 – (AFP) Groups of women took to the streets around Iraq on Wednesday to demand at least a 40 percent share of the country's new political power as females make up more than half of the population.

A provisional administration is due to take power from Iraq's interim Governing Council by June 30 and Iraqi women want a piece of the action.

"We think this is very, very important," said Hanaa Edwar, secretary general of the Iraqi El Amal Association, the network group that coordinated the simultaneous demonstrations in separate provinces around the country.

"It is a decisive time for Iraqi women to be represented in the democratisation of our country," she told AFP at a peaceful protest of about 30 or 40 women in Baghdad.

Women, who comprise at least 52 percent of Iraq's 25-million-strong population, want to ensure equal rights are enshrined in a temporary constitution or fundamental law being drawn up by the Governing Council to provide the legal framework for the new administration.

"We have to have a guarantee in this law that the representation of women will not be less than 40 percent in all political decision making," said Edwar.

The legislation is due to be finalised by February 28 and remain in force until a permanent constitution has been drafted by an elected convention and ratified by a referendum next year.

US civil administrator Paul Bremer has said he will veto an Islamic constitution that does not conform with American concepts of democracy and civil liberties.

Edwar, whose organisation is an umbrella for some 80 women's groups, was unsure how many other demonstrations were taking place around Iraq, but was confident they had occurred in at least 10 of the country's 18 provinces.

On a large traffic island in the centre of Baghdad, old and young women, some dressed in conservative shawls and robes, others in western-style clothes, brandished banners and gave speeches to draw attention to their cause.

"We want to get women's rights because we are the majority and such rights did not exist until now," said Suha Yakub, a 20-year-old student, dressed in a denim skirt and shirt.

From: http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/303500.htm