On Sunday, November 28, 2021, Dr. Choman Hardi, CGDS Director, spoke at “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategies: The Case of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Conference.” Organized and hosted jointly by the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr, Salahaddin University, the University of Sulaimani, and the University of Duhok, it was held at the Rotana Hotel Conference Hall in Erbil. KRG President Mr. Nechirvan Barzani, along with the Speaker of Parliament Ms. Rewaz Faiqand and Deputy Prime Minister Mr Qubad Talabani, spoke. Dr. Choman spoke on the first panel, “International Crises for Women in Post-ISIS Societies and Its Implications in the Kurdistan Region,” with Ms. Vian Dakhil, Ms. Sharizaan Minwala, and Ms. Sozan Safar. The conference aimed to provide a platform to exchange ideas and experiences on gender related achievements and issues in the Kurdistan Region, increase public awareness on women’s rights and gender equality, and bring together regional, national, and international forces to better combat gender based violence in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and other global crises. In addition, it aimed to help remove systematic barriers that hinder women’s equal participation in all areas of life, private and public.
Image description: Three women and one man sit on a stage; one of the women is speaking, and her image is projected on a very large screen on the right hand side of the photo. The background is a purple wall with twelve logos and Kurdish script above. Yellow flowers separate the stage from the audience; we see the backs of the heads of four people in the audience.