Kurdish women

Kurdish women (Kurdish: Jinên/Afiretên Kurd‎) have traditionally played important roles in Kurdish history, society and politics. Kurdish women also continue to face numerous problems, including violent victimization through female genital mutilation, honor killings, forced marriage, child marriage, rape, domestic violence, female infanticide and acid throwing.

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Kurdish women from Pālangān village, 2012

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Lady Adela (center), ruler of Halabja, meeting with Major Soane in 1919.

Historical accounts

In politics

Sharaf ad-Din Bitlisi's 1597 Sharafnama mentions three Kurdish women assuming power in Kurdish principalities. Evliya Çelebi also noted that Kurdish women did occasionally assume power in Kurdistan and Ottoman authorities accepted the succession in those principalities by a female ruler.

In the late 19th century, Lady Halima Khanim of Hakari was the ruler of Bash Kala until she was forced to surrender to the Ottoman government after the suppression of Bedir Khan revolt in 1847. A young Kurdish woman named Fatma became chief of the Ezdinan tribe in 1909 and she was known among her tribe as the queen. During the World War I, Russian forces negotiated their safe passage through tribal territory with Lady Maryam of the famous Nehri family, who according to Basile Nikitine, wielded great authority among her followers. Lady Adela, ruler of Halabja, exerted great influence in the affairs of Jaf tribe in the Shahrazur plain on the Turco-Iranian frontier. The revival of commerce and restoration of law and order in the region of Halabja is attributed to her sound judgement.

In society and literature

According to the Kurdish writer Mahmud Bayazidi, the Kurdish women did not veil and they participated in social activities such as work, dancing and singing together with men. In traditional Kurdish literature, both matriarchal and patriarchal tendencies are found. In the Ballad of "Las and Khazal" (Beytî Las û Xezal), female tribal rulers openly compete over a lover, while in patriarchal contexts, women are subject to male violence.

Accounts of Western travellers

European travelers sometimes noted the absence of veil, free association with males (such as strangers and guests), and female rulers. Vladimir Minorsky has reported several cases of Kurdish women running the affairs of their tribes. He met one of these female chiefs named Lady Adela in the region of Halabja in 1913. She was known for saving lives of many British army officers during World War I and was awarded the title of Khan-Bahadur by the British commander.

Kurdish women in Syria

Kurdish female fighters in the YPJ (Women's Protection Units) played a key role in the defense of Kobani and in rescuing Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar, and their achievements have attracted international attention as a rare example of strong female achievement in a region in which women are heavily repressed.

Kurdish women in Iraq

17-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad, an Iraqi Kurdish girl of the Yazidi faith, was stoned to death in front of a mob of about 2000 men in 2007, possibly because she was planning to convert to Islam.

The prominent Kurdish poet Goran denounced discrimination and violence against women. The first journal for Kurdish women, Dengî Afiret "Woman's Voice", was published in 1953. Following the overthrow of monarchy in 1958, the Union of Kurdish Women lobbied for legal reform in the Iraqi civil law and it succeeded in bringing marriage under civil control and abolishing honor killing. The first female judge in Middle East was a Kurdish woman named Zakiyya Hakki who was appointed by Abd al-Karim Qasim. She later became part of the leadership of KDP.

During the Anfal campaign in 1988, Kurdish women were kept in concentration camps and rape was used as a form of punishment. In 1994, Kurdish women marched for peace from Sulaimaniya to Arbil and protested against the civil war in Iraqi Kurdistan. After the establishment of KRG, women were able to form their own organizations and several women became ministers in the cabinet of local government. In September 2003, Nasrin Berwari was appointed to the 25-member Iraq provisional cabinet as minister of municipalities and public works, and in June 2004, she was among six women named to the 30-member transitional cabinet and in April 2005 was named permanently to that post. As the top Iraqi official in charge of municipal and environmental affairs, Berwari is considered as one of the most important figures in the Iraqi civil administration.

Kurdish women in Turkey

Leyla Zana giving a speech at Newroz celebrations, Diyarbakir, March 21, 2007.

In 1919, Kurdish women formed their first organization, the "Society for the Advancement of Kurdish Women", in Istanbul.

During the revolts of 1925-1937, the army targeted Kurdish women, many of who committed suicide to escape rape and abuse. By the mid-1990s, thousands of women had joined the ranks of PKK, and the mainstream media began a campaign of vilifying them as "prostitutes". In 1996, Kurdish women formed their own feminist associations and journals such as Roza and Jujin.

Leyla Zana became the first Kurdish woman elected to Parliament of Turkey in 1991. During her inauguration speech, she identified herself as a Kurd and spoke in Kurdish. She was subsequently stripped of her immunity and sentenced to 15 years in prison. She was recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and was awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Union in 1995.

Eight Kurdish women stood successfully as independent candidates in the 22 July 2007 general election, joining the Democratic Society Party after they entered the Turkish parliament.

Kurdish women in Iran

During World War I, Kurdish women suffered from attacks of Russian and Turkish armies. In 1915, Russian army massacred the male population of Mahabad and abused two hundred women. Reza Shah issued his decree for coercive unveiling of women in 1936. Government treated the colorful traditional Kurdish female custome as ugly and dirty and it had to be replaced with civilized (i.e. Western) dress. Kurds called this forced dress as Ajami rather than European.

Republic of Mahabad encouraged women's participation in public life and KDPI launched a political party for women which promoted education for females and rallied their support for the republic. In August 1979, the Iranian Army launched an offensive to destroy the autonomist movement in Kurdistan. Kurdish organizations such as Komala recruited hundreds of women into their military and political ranks. Within its own camps, Komala abolished gender segregation and women took part in combat and military training.

Over the years, Kurdish women assumed more roles in the Iranian society and by 2000, a significant number of Kurdish women had become part of the labor force, while an increasing number of females engaged in intellectual activities such as poetry, writing and music. On the other hand, domestic violence led many women to commit suicide, most commonly through self-immolation.

Renowned Kurdish women

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Asenath Barzani was among the first female rabbis in history. Mestureh Ardalan (1805–1848) was a Kurdish poet and writer. She is well known for her literary works. Lady Adela, Leyla Zana, Leyla Qasim, Professor Kajal Rahmani anthropologist, founder and president, Kurdistan Justice and Peace Academy in the US, champion for Kurdish rights and Feleknas Uca, are among the well known women for their role in the modern Kurdish and European politics.

Pêşmerge women

Pêşmerge forces have a female combat unit called "The Pêşmerge Force for Women". Kurdish women have struggled hard to prove their worth as tough soldiers in a traditional society and they have earned a reputation for bravery and skill in the battlefield. While they were engaged in previous battles such as capture of Sulaimaniya in 1992, the first official female unit of the Pêşmerge was formed in 1996. Pêşmerge women are sometimes compared with Amazons.

Crimes against Kurdish women

Modern issues related to women in Kurdish society include genital mutilation, honor killings, domestic violence, female infanticide and polygamy.

Female genital mutilation

Further information: Female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation is an accepted part of Kurdish culture in Iraqi Kurdistan. A 2011 Kurdish law criminalized FGM practice in Iraqi Kurdistan, however this law is not being enforced. In Iraq, FGM is found mostly among the Kurds in Erbil (58 percent prevalence within age group 15–49), Sulaymaniyah (54 percent) and Kirkuk (20 percent), giving the country a national prevalence of eight percent.

According to a 2008 report in the Washington Post, the Kurdistan region of Iraq is one of the few places in the world where female genital mutilation has been rampant. According to one study carried out in 2008, approximately 60% of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq had been mutilated. In at least one Kurdish territory, female genital mutilation had occurred among 95% of women. The Kurdish Regional Government has strengthened its laws regarding violence against women in general and female genital mutilation in particular, and is now considered to be an anti-FGM model for other countries to follow.

A 2015 study by Kurdish social anthropologist Kameel Ahmady found a 16% rate of female genital mutilation in Iran's Kurdistan province.

Honor killings

The Free Women's Organization of Kurdistan (FWOK) released a statement on International Women's Day 2015 noting that “6,082 women were killed or forced to commit suicide during the past year in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is almost equal to the number of the Peshmerga martyred fighting Islamic State (IS),” and that a large number of women were victims of honor killings or enforced suicide – mostly self-immolation or hanging. In Iraq, 17-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad, an Iraqi Kurdish girl of the Yazidi faith, was stoned to death in front of a mob of about 2000 men in 2007, possibly because she was allegedly planning to convert to Islam.

A July 2008 Turkish study by a team from Dicle University on honor killings in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, the predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey, has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to honor killing. It also comments that the practice is not related to a feudal societal structure, "there are also perpetrators who are well-educated university graduates. Of all those surveyed, 60 percent are either high school or university graduates or at the very least, literate." In 2010 a 16-year-old Kurdish girl was buried alive by relatives for befriending boys in Southeast Turkey; her corpse was found 40 days after she went missing. There are well documented cases, where Turkish courts have sentenced whole families to life imprisonment for an honor killing. The most recent was on 13 January 2009, where a Turkish Court sentenced five members of the same Kurdish family to life imprisonment for the honor killing of Naile Erdas, 16, who got pregnant as a result of rape.

A June 2008 report by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate said that in Istanbul alone there was one honor killing every week, and reported over 1,000 during the previous five years. It added that metropolitan cities were the location of many of these, due to growing Kurdish immigration to these cities from the East. The mass migration during the past decades of rural population from Southeastern Turkey to big cities in Western Turkey has resulted in "modern" cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Bursa having the highest numbers of reported honor killings.

In Iran, honour killings occur primarily among tribal minority groups such as the Kurds which are generally more conservative than the Persians. Discriminatory family laws, articles in the Criminal Code that show leniency towards honor killings, and a strongly male dominated society have been cited as causes of honor killings in Iran.

Honour killings are also prevalent among the Kurdish diaspora in the West In Germany in March 2009, a Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, Gülsüm S., was killed for a relationship not in keeping with her family's plan for an arranged marriage. Another well-known case was Heshu Yones, stabbed to death by her Kurdish father in London in 2002 when her family heard a love song dedicated to her and suspected she had a boyfriend. Other examples include the killing of Tulay Goren, a Kurdish Shia Muslim girl who immigrated with her family from Turkey. Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Iraqi Kurd woman from Mitcham, south London, was killed in 2006, in a murder orchestrated by her father, uncle and cousins. Her life and murder were presented in a documentary called Banaz a Love Story, directed and produced by Deeyah Khan. In Sweden the 26-year-old Kurdish woman Fadime Şahindal was killed by her father in 2002. Hatun Sürücü was murdered at the age of 23 in Berlin, by her own youngest brother, in an honor killing.

See also

• Kurdish women in warfare

References

• Hassanpour, Amir. The (Re)production of Kurdish Patriarchy in the Kurdish Language, In: Mojab, S. (2001). Women of a non-state nation: The Kurds. Costa Mesa, Calif: Mazda Publishers.