In this podcast, Dr. Choman Hardi is interviewed by Tre Mohammad of Aryan TV. The interview discusses women’s rights, gender equality, the patriarchal system, and stigmatization faced by the women’s organizations in Kurdistan
Funded by the EU, CGDS is producing podcasts, in Kurdish, Arabic and English to promote understanding of gender issues in the region. The following is one of the podcasts produced for the project.
Present in the interview are Awat Mohamad, writer and activist; Dr. Choman Hardi, Director of the Center for Gender and Development and Studies at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani; and Aras Galawezh, an activist for equal rights.
Awat Mohammad begins with how the role of women has progressed in history. He elaborates on how women now participate in the current societal and legal institutions. Mohammad credits this advancement to the support the women's organizations have provided. He mentions that this, however, is still an early stage of a larger development regarding women’s presence in society. He also adds that the community still hesitates to encourage women and their advancement.
Dr. Choman Hardi discusses how the effects of a patriarchal society start to become apparent once patriarchy is threatened. When society and women stand up against patriarchy, then there is a great possibility that domestic violence and gender based violence might increase. This is the system’s attempt at remaining in control. Dr. Hardi elaborates on the different perceptions and misconceptions of gender. For instance, gender is sometimes misperceived as a mechanism for destroying marriages and a means used to justify loose sexual behavior in society. She goes on to emphasize that the same way the “sex” of a person pertains to a male’s and female’s biological differences, the “gender” of a person describes the social characterstics of “men” and “women.”
Aras Galawezh stresses that it is important to address who the victims are of this patriarchal system. He says that men are the victims who are shaped by society to stand against a community in which women have equal roles.
All the participants highlight how governmental institutions, religious institutions, and society itself should encourage equal rights whenever and wherever possible. Through their influence on society, religious institutions and figures can impact the ways in which equality is perceived. Governmental institutions can advocate for female politicians and women’s rights. Society can teach men and women that inequality is not acceptable and should be resisted.