Both articles emphasized the positive developments which have taken place over recent years, beginning the long process of bringing gender issues and violence against women into the light of intellectual discussion, teaching, and research in the Region. These developments have taken place alongside the work of women’s organisations, NGOs, and activist groups in the community, with some input from both government and international funders.
For myself, I have been an activist, academic, researcher, and professor on violence against women for almost 50 years overall, working in partnerships internationally for at least the last 25 years. In this demanding and gratifying work, both myself and the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at the UK University of Bristol (of which I was a founder member in 1990), have always attempted to develop work which, as a priority, avoids dominance from the West. It is of vital importance to challenge any assumption or practice which implies that Western countries have greater expertise in gender studies and in our joint struggle against violence against women worldwide.
The intention of these initiatives over many years has been to work in partnerships in a culturally and ethically sensitive way which is grounded in the realities of the countries concerned. The impetus has been that we are working hand-in-hand, helping each other and learning from each other. The struggle against violence against women is so massive and difficult that we all need whatever support and solidarity we can achieve.
It has been a huge honour for me to offer some hopefully helpful assistance to women academics, researchers, and activists in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, working on gender-based and ‘honour’-based violence, and to work with Dr. Begikhani (and many others). The bravery and tenacity of all of these Kurdish academics, practitioners, and activists fighting for social justice, and especially social justice for women, cannot be over-emphasised. It is a triumph to see that the seeds of change have been planted by all concerned, struggling with such ongoing commitment, to introduce the subject to universities, NGOs, service providers, and both the state and the voluntary sectors.
I have also been honoured to cooperate, along with Dr. Begikhani, with the University of Sulaimaini in establishing the Gender and Violence Studies Centre (GVSC) there (funded by the British Council with matched funding from the Kurdistan Regional Government). This Centre broke new ground from 2010/11. It was developed in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Bristol, who together have played a small role in the development of further Centres. Thus, I was delighted to write with Dr. Begikhani the short article for Rudaw in May, outlining and reviewing the overall development of these Centres, based on documented evidence. Iraqi Kurdistan has been making strides forward in this difficult area and it is a privilege to be involved.
I note that there have been suggestions that some of the details of the establishment of the Center for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimaini (AUIS) may have been inadvertently incorrect in terms of overlooking some of the admirable work conducted to get the Center going and to develop it. The CGDS has been working to develop a range of ongoing projects, including their initiative of ground-breaking teaching on gender. It is a pleasure to hear that work has been going on in the University there since 2016, with the setting up of the Center, and that the outcomes have included the granting of EU funding and other developments. If there were omissions in the presentation of events in our original article, these were certainly unintentional.
What our article said in no way sought to undermine these great achievements, but attempted to provide additional information on the history. I am aware that, in 2015, my colleague Dr. Begikhani was solicited by Dr. Barham Salih and his wife Dr. Sarbagh Salih to help establish a gender studies centre at the AUIS. I reviewed Dr. Begikhani’s proposal at the time and have seen the email exchanges she has had with Dr. Salih on these issues. This does not mean to bypass the great efforts that have been made since and the positive developments achieved. It is encouraging to see how advanced the work has become within the institution. Congratulations are due to all those working at the CGDS, at the GVSC, as well as at the Centres in other universities that have been – or are being – set up, to take on this difficult and unendingly distressing issue.
Thus, the establishment of further gender centres and gender violence centres continues. I know that Dr. Begikhani is currently working in various institutions to integrate gender issues and gender-based violence into the academic curriculum in Kurdistan (as well as conducting further international collaborations with colleagues from our Centre at the University of Bristol) and has worked tirelessly as a Senior International Advisor to Kurdistan’s Prime Minister on Higher Education and Gender, with the aim of keeping this work grounded and integrally connected to activists and researchers, rather than appropriated by a more distant government approach, as often happens around the world.
I am now retired, but still work on the issue to a smaller extent and hope to go on doing so in the vibrant environment of Kurdistan. I am in a position to be able to make positive comparisons with developments for women in other countries internationally and in the Near East. It is thrilling in this wider context to see the new steps forward that have been made in Iraqi Kurdistan. These steps are all the more extraordinary in that they have been made in a sometimes difficult environment, not least due to the tragic history of Kurdistan, women’s traditional situation under male authority, and the positioning of Kurdistan Region in the heart of a zone, currently, of geo-political instability.
However, due to the dynamics of this complex and challenging situation, possibilities for division and dissent are numerous. I would suggest that such possibilities for conflict need to be resisted, mediated, and negotiated, even though they might not be able to be eradicated. Dr. Begikhani and Dr. Hardi both emphasise in their writings how the concept of working on gender issues means acceptance of differences and building collaborations, and Dr. Hardi concludes her Rudaw article emphasising how: “working cooperatively is essential to achieve the important goal of gender equality”. May I take this opportunity to congratulate all concerned women’s rights activists, academics and service providers across Kurdistan on progress achieved so far. I can see from my small involvement that this progress is palpable and the seeds of change have indeed been sown.
I will conclude, therefore, with the trust and the hope that all concerned across the sector, within both universities and activism/service provision, can continue to support each other in this endeavour, and perhaps work out new mechanisms or structures for doing so. The aim in Kurdistan, and elsewhere across the globe, is to work jointly and cooperatively where possible and to move forward together. We all need all the support we can get in our huge and historic task to meaningfully challenge gender inequality and gender violence, and to make our world a safer one for women.
 |
Professor Emerita Gill Hague is an Emerita Professor of Violence Against Women Studies at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom
|
