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Iraqi women could lose rights given by saddam hussein { February 2 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/02/national1639EST0778.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/02/national1639EST0778.DTL
Iraqi women could lose rights they've had for decades, senators say
PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
Monday, February 2, 2004
©2004 Associated Press
(02-02) 13:39 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
Iraqi women are in danger of losing many of their rights to Islamic law, and the U.S. occupation authority is not doing enough to prevent it, Democratic lawmakers said Monday.
Though deposed President Saddam Hussein has been criticized on many grounds, women had some of the most liberal protections of any Muslim country under Iraqi legislation that prohibited marriage under the age of 18 and denied favoritism to men in inheritance, divorce and child custody.
The Iraqi Governing Council in December decided to abolish Saddam's code and allow each religious group to apply its tradition.
The decision has not been approved by U.S. occupation administrator L. Paul Bremer, who wields a veto. The 45 members of the House said Monday in a letter to President Bush that the administration must act now because it will be unable to reverse the council's action after the scheduled June 30 transfer of power to Iraqis.
"It would be a tragedy beyond words if Iraqi women lost the rights they had under Saddam Hussein, especially when the purpose of our mission in Iraq was to make life better for the Iraqi people," 44 Democrats and one independent wrote to Bush.
The letter echoes complaints that occupation authorities already have heard from Iraqi women. Bremer appointed only three women to the 25-member governing council, whose membership was determined by ethnicity or religious affiliation. In December, about a dozen women wrote Bremer saying the coalition "created these male-dominated councils" and is obligated to "redress this discrimination."
The U.S.-led authority has sought to raise women's consciousness, sponsoring programs to advise women how to set up small businesses and organizing discussion groups on women's issues.
Many women still complain the coalition has failed to promote women's rights as aggressively as its promises would suggest, and whatever gains they have made will diminish after the U.S.-led coalition transfers sovereignty to a new Iraqi government.
The lawmakers' letter to Bush also appeared aimed at countering an op-ed piece in The Washington Post on Sunday in which Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz wrote about U.S. efforts for Iraqi women.
Wolfowitz wrote that the United States "is giving special emphasis to helping Iraqi women," having allocated $27 million for women's programs and trying to see to it that girls benefit from new education programs in Iraq.
Naming other nations that have struggled to become more democratic, Wolfowitz also said it is up to Iraqis to prove wrong those who say Arabs can't build democracy.
"In the end, it will be up to Iraqis to fashion a democracy that suits their circumstances," he said.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said that in the newspaper piece, Wolfowitz "gushed over efforts to assist women in Iraq, but failed to mention the pending reversal of women's rights laws on June 30."
"I would hope that Mr. Wolfowitz and this administration aren't viewing this situation through rose-colored glasses," she said in a press release issued with the letter to Bush.
"There is a women's rights crisis on the horizon in Iraq, and we must take action while we still have a say in the matter," Maloney said.
©2004 Associated Press
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