Source: Masarat Iraq

The new report of Masarat “Forgotten Voices : Minority Women in Iraq” focuas on the situation of minority women by exposing multifaceted discrimination practiced against them.  Through a multi-faceted analysis, the report has attempted to reflect the realities suffered by minority women, the provision of an information framework that could deepen debate on best means to correct practices and policies that violate the rights of minority women, and to present recommendations on how to improve the situation of women in Iraq in general and the situation of minority women in particular.

The strengthening of women’s status in the religious traditions of minorities  is one of the fundamental goals of the report.  Thus, from the point of view of this report, it is very important to advance equality and resist discrimination from a religious perspective and this does not mean interference in the power of  clerics in interpreting religious texts, but rather encouraging the analysis of knowledge produced by them in  a way which contributes to the strengthening of women’s status and their image in the religious discourse as well as the conduction of in-depth analysis of the violence phenomenon against women in terms of its relation with the religious system as a whole, and its relation with sacred texts and their interpretations in a way which reflects the cultural values and social traditions of the Iraqi society.

The recommendations of this report stress the need to launch a strategy to promote this goal in partnership between the religious establishment, the government and civil society organizations in order to improve the status of women from a religious perspective and from the perspective of traditions and to counter the increased extremist interpretations that bring damage to the status of women and to the diversity of the society.

to download the report, CLICK HERE