Gender and Constitution Building - Women for Women International

of the law might argue that the law contradicts the Article
7(a) language because Islamic law does not include
an age limit for marriage. The new Constitution must
address this type of ambiguity and specify that if there
is no universally agreed tenet of Islam regarding a particular
issue, then there can be no contradiction with a
newly established law.
Lessons from Other Countries
A United States Institute of Peace Special Report
calls today an era of constitution-building and explains
that constitutions in this century are “redefining the long
tradition of expert constitution making and bringing it
into the sphere of democratic participation.” 5 To confront
the fast approaching constitutional moment of
truth in Iraq head on, Iraqi women should look to other
post-conflict countries where women have been able not
only to hold open the window of opportunity but also
to lift each other through to secure their rights on the
other side.
H.E. Narmeen Othman, the former Minister of
Women’s State Affairs of Iraq and current Minister of
Environment, suggests looking at the example of
Rwanda. The new Rwandan Constitution set-aside 27
percent of district council seats for women. 6 Introducing
this “critical mass” of women into decision-making
positions permanently changed the societal dynamics for
Rwandan women. Ten years after the genocide, Rwanda
parliamentarians are 49 percent female, surpassing Sweden
as the nation with the world’s highest percentage of
women in elected office.
In the past in the Middle East, women’s rights have
arguably been used as a negotiating chip for governments
to appease Islamic political parties such as the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hamas in Gaza or Party
of Justice and Development in Morocco. This has created
the false impression that conservative religious law
and women’s rights are in opposition. However, the experiences
in other countries have shown that this is not
always the case. In fact, many examples demonstrate how
using an Islamic legal framework may actually enhance
women’s rights while gaining popular support. A great
example is Morocco’s Personal Status Law. 7
This law was adopted in January 2004 and has been
a beacon of hope for women throughout the Middle
East. 8 The law addressed many controversial issues that
had been considered legally taboo by countries in most
of the region. Among other things, the royal edict: (1)
apportioned household responsibility equally between
men and women, (2) abolished women’s obedience to
their husbands, (3) made marriage easier for women by
lifting many of the previous restrictions, (4) removed
the requirement for a guardian for women’s marriage
and mobility, (5) restricted polygamy to specific circumstances,
(6) improved women’s access to divorce, (7) introduced
stricter regulations on men abandoning their
wives and (8) raised the minimum age at which women
may marry to 18, though exceptions may be made with
a judge’s permission. 9
The Power of Public Perceptions
Unfortunately, even in the countries just mentioned,
there can be a wide chasm between the law as written
and as practiced. 10 In Iraq, with its strong cultural and
tribal influences, the letter of the new laws will need to
reflect a progressive spirit. Learning from the examples
cited above, Iraqi women will need to address criticisms
proactively before they gain momentum, anticipating
objections to their recommendations and preparing a
convincing response. 11
Women also need to be aware of the power of public
perception and leverage it to their advantage. During
these early stages of nation-building, when women will
be arguing for laws that protect their rights, not only
men will resist their goals. Remarkably, opposition from
women already exists. For example, in the March 2005
Conference on Women, a female member of the new
Transitional National Assembly (TNA) cautioned that
although she was an advocate for women, she would
not sacrifice family values and the rights of the child for
women’s rights. 12 Women must clarify the current dialogue
so that both men and women see that protecting
women’s rights also protects the family and that supporting
women’s rights is good for economic growth,
reconstruction and nation-building. 13
Despite strong affiliation with various political parties,
women cannot afford to fractionalize as the Constitution
is being drafted. To influence the new Constitution,
they must frame the debate surrounding women’s
issues to allow women to pool the strength of their collective
voices so they will be heard. There is too much at
stake to allow differences on individual political issues
to hamper women’s chance to secure their rights legally
and change the entire landscape of women’s rights for
decades to come.
The primary division is between the liberal/secular
parties on the one hand and the conservative/religious
parties on the other. In particular, there is a tendency
for women who believe in a separation of religion from
state to distance themselves from the more conservative
women looking to establish their rights based on
Islam. In the past, this type of polarization has significantly
weakened the call for women’s full social and political
participation. 14 The women’s platform should emphasize
that these two positions need not be mutually
exclusive and deconstruct the view that a Shiaa majority
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