International Women’s Day Event | Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir

MONDAY, 15 MARCH 2021

His Excellency, Hassan al- Ka’abi, First Deputy Speaker, Council of Representatives

Commissioner Ahlam al- Jabiri, Independent High Electoral Commission,

Dr. Yossra Kareem Mohsen, Acting Director-General, Women Empowerment Directorate

Ambassador Rend al-Rahim, President of the Iraq Foundation,

Honourable Members of Parliament,

Civil society representatives,

Colleagues from the UN family and members of the international community,

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen,

 

It gives me a great pleasure to have the honor, as my first official duty as a Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, to welcome you to this webinar to mark International Women’s Day. Even more so as I was a politician in my home country for a quarter of a century and witnessed and contributed to a big leap in women’s political participation during that time.

 

The global theme for this year is ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World’ but at the same time as we look towards women’s role in the future, we also honor Iraqi women in the past and present and recognize their achievements in different spheres of society. We honor their continued efforts towards improving the lives of their families, promoting community reconciliation, advocating for a more equal and just society and for their vital role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

In the context of Iraq, this year’s global theme is very relevant given that early elections are planned to take place on 10 October. Women’s participation in these elections is expected to be affected by two different factors as on one hand side the COVID-19 pandemic will have an impact and on the other side women’s increased activism will influence their participation. Younger women drawn from civil society activism -including the protest movement - are expected to participate and run for public office for the first time under new political parties and alliances and others as independent candidates.

 

The upcoming national elections offer an important opportunity to promote women’s participation in public life through collective efforts and targeted actions. The research study conducted by UNAMI in cooperation with the Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Free Iraq Foundation will be the main reference in our discussion today, but it provides a compelling picture of the challenge’s women encounter when entering the political stage.

 

The findings of our research study confirm that violence against women with aspirations to enter politics is a serious problem and comes in various forms. Defamation on social media platforms remains a major obstacle to enabling women’s participation and therefore is also a major hurdle on the road that leads to genuine democracy and effective governance.

 

On a positive note, the findings demonstrate that women are more than capable of winning in genuine competitive politics and all they need is to be afforded more opportunities on an equal and level-playing field.

 

We therefore welcome the recent establishment of the supreme committee on monitoring women’s participation in the elections. The committee’s functions include examining issues of violence against female candidates as a key element which limits Iraqi women’s full and equal participation in the electoral process.

 

The old political motto “Nothing about us without us” applies to women’s political participation. Consultations with Iraqi women from all walks of life is paramount, including greater engagement with women with disabilities. In this context, it is important to understand their expectations and needs ahead of the elections with the aim to remove obstacles that could prevent their participation in the electoral process.

 

UNAMI’s Electoral Assistance Office, in the run-up to the elections, will be engaging with Iraqis civil society groups along with the Independent High Electoral Commission to promote a gender-responsive electoral process including by providing targeted civic and voter education for female voters. It will also be providing a specialized training for media and political parties on how to counter hate speech and raise awareness on discriminatory customs and practices against female political activists and candidates.  

 

Additionally, we further support the supreme committee’s capacity-building programmes on promoting women’s electoral participation and we – the UN family, stand ready to provide assistance in line with our mandate. 

 

Finally, I hope that the discussion on the findings of the research study and proposed recommendations to advance women’s participation will compel us all to work together and do more to promote women’s representation and participation in public life. Without women’s empowerment and full participation in decision making a society is like a bird with a broken wing – it will not fly. Let’s join forces and do our utmost to ensure that Iraq will fly.

 

I wish you a fruitful discussion.

Thank you.