After complaining about road services, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP Hawre Mala Star, said that these issues and “dozens of other problems prove the fact that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is a female model government that can’t fulfill the people’s demands.”
When asked to repeat his comment and explain what he meant by speaker of parliament Rewaz Faiaq, the MP unapologetically stated, “the government is of the female gender.”
The derogatory comments by the former civil society activist provoked an uproar inside parliament hall and were followed by the speaker saying, “we will remove his remarks in the protocol. He will decide later whether he will apologize or not. He made a mistake … women and men have no difference.”
Members of Kurdish civil society have spoken out against the statements, saying they are emblematic of a larger problem within society.
“Being a female is an honour,” Lanja Dizayee, the Chair of the Committee on Protection of Women’s Rights, told Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal following the parliament session, calling for the MP to issue an apology. “It’s not acceptable for Mr. Hawre, nor anyone else, to use the word female, woman, or being a woman as an insult.”
Kurdish feminist writer Houzan Mahmoud spoke to Rudaw English on the matter, describing the sentiment as deep-rooted in Kurdish society.
“It’s strange that people get shocked, instead of going back to the root of the problem that has brought about this,” said Mahmoud.
“This MP’s remarks have a longer history that is in the mentality of Kurdish men, including politicians, non-politicians, artists and intellectuals.”
“This, in my opinion, [...] is a moral political crisis in Kurdish society,” said the writer, noting that political parties regularly use gendered language in an effort to smear each other. “If you look at their shows they are full of these insults and kind of talk.”
Mahmoud suggested encouraging the ridding of Kurdish media and political spaces of sexist, racist, ageist, and homophobic language with codes of conduct, and preventing people with harmful views from being in positions of power.
"What I meant was this government has led to female models to be rich out of nowhere," Star, the MP under fire, claimed at a press conference after the parliamentary meeting.
"I apologize to my mother and my sisters if some channels have caused misunderstanding," he added.
The parliamentary session on Wednesday was called to vote on a bill on the Protection of Domestic Products in the Kurdistan Region and continue the second reading of the bill on Conservation of Water Networks and Wastewater in the Region.
The parliamentary head and her deputy had earlier had a pair of shoes thrown at them by Kazim Farooq, head of the New Generation faction, after he criticized the body's agenda and the speaker's moderation of the session.
Faiaq, who said the shoe did not hit her, said “If that shoe is personally for the speaker of parliament, I will forgive him, because I can’t run this place if I can’t accept all the mindsets.”
