By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File staff writer

Washington -- Iraqi women, who constitute at least fifty-five percent of their country's population, want a voice in its rebirth following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. This message was strongly conveyed by six women in their April 23 meetings at the State Department with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky.

The Iraqi women told Powell that in order to address the most critical needs of Iraqi women and children, priority should be given to restore the country's educational sector, improve its health care and social services, and foster women's political participation through training and exchanges, judicial and legal reform and human rights guarantees.

Following their meeting with Powell, the six Iraqi women; Zainab Al-Suwaij, Rend Rahim Francke, Zakia Hakki, Sarbagh Salih, Nasreen Sideek and Nadia Mirza; sat down for a discussion with Under Secretary Dobriansky, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator Wendy Chamberlain, and representatives of U.S. non-governmental and human rights organizations.

Dobriansky opened the discussion by saying she had invited the six women in order to get their perspective on how best to improve the lives of Iraq's women and children. This would not be the only occasion the United States would reach out to those sectors of the population. "We see this as an ongoing process," she said.

USAID's Wendy Chamberlain drew the visitors' attention to the fact that the U.S. Congress had approved $2.5 billion for post-war Iraqi reconstruction "because we understand these points that you are making."

"Never before in U.S. history have we been quite this generous and upfront right away from the beginning," said Chamberlain. The question Americans have for the Iraqi people is "How are we going to help you ... recreate your society?" she said.

Rend Rahim Francke, the Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation, spoke of the challenge Iraqi women face in trying to gain political participation. Francke and fellow visitor Zainab Al-Suwaij had gone to the April 15 meeting in Ur, outside Nasiriyah, to take part in the first meeting of Iraqis to discuss their future government after the fall of the Ba'ath regime. They were both dismayed to discover that, even though more than half of Iraq's population are female, only 4 out of the 80 delegates to Ur were women.

Francke said this situation was a good illustration of the uphill battle Iraqi women face in order to gain a better voice for their own future. "The question of women in political life in Iraq is regarded as a luxury by some," she said, who don't see it as important in the context of overall rebuilding. "They're wrong," said Francke. "Bringing women in is a demonstration of your commitment to democracy, to diversity, to equality in society." Furthermore, she said the inclusion of women's voices will assure sensitivity to women's needs.

Francke also argued that the recent change of Iraq's regime "opens a door" of opportunity to everyone, including women, for the creation of a civil society and institutions. But unless the opportunity is seized now, the door will begin to close within three or four years. The Iraqi people "need to push the envelope now," she said.

She asked the United States to help Iraq's women with training in political organizing, grass roots activism and campaigning, "in knowing how to present these issue so that they become national issues."

She also warned that Iraqi health services have been severely underfunded in favor of military expenditures since 1980. As a result, Francke said hospitals and medical supplies do not adequately serve the needs of the Iraqi people, and "preventive health care is nonexistent."

The quality of education in post-Saddam Iraq has also left much to be desired, said Zainab Al-Suwaij, the Executive Director of the American Islamic Congress. She said the country's literacy rate has "dropped dramatically" over the past three decades.

Al-Suwaij attacked the quality of school textbooks issued during Saddam Hussein's rule as being infused with the ruling Ba'ath party's ideology. The textbooks, she said, were "more focused upon promoting the [Ba'athist] agenda than improving education."
The regime's doctrines were also forced upon the curriculum when war and praise of Saddam Hussein were the required subjects of class discussions, reports, and even artwork.

Intolerance for any sign of dissent, she said, has led to generations of children being afraid or incapable of expressing their own ideas or feelings. They have also been taught to hate outsiders -- whether foreigners, followers of different religions, or different ethnicities -- since Saddam's policy was always to emphasize differences between people.

To improve the educational system in Iraq, Al-Suwaij said the curriculum must be "de-Ba'athisized," and projects for the students should be found on the grass-roots levels that would promote tolerance and understanding of the different religious and ethnic communities in Iraq.

School counselors, social workers and nurses should also be hired to answer the questions and concerns of children, many of whom are confused and stressed from the classroom practices under the Ba'ath regime and need therapy. The families should also be asked to become more involved, she said. "All of us as people who care about Iraqi children will have to work together."

Zakia Hakki, who was once Iraq's first female judge, but is now a member of Women for a Free Iraq, said the legal system also must be cleansed of Ba'ath party laws and institutions, many of which are inimical to acceptable human rights practices.

Judicial reforms should seek to separate religion from the state and target fascist ideology espoused by Saddam Hussein, she said. Replacement laws could receive their legal basis from the United Nations Charter or the Fourth Geneva Convention. But, Hakki cautioned that for all of these reforms to be seen as legitimate, they would need to come solely from the new Iraqi government, and advised that U.S. and coalition authorities inside the country not be involved.

USAID Assistant Administrator Chamberlain thanked the participants for their input and asked that they participate in the fine-tuning of projects the United States is setting up to address many of their concerns.

"We are there with you," said Chamberlain. "What we need now from you is your expertise."

The U.S. and coalition forces in control of Iraq immediately after the conflict "want to find people like you and turn [Iraq] over as soon as possible," and Chamberlain asked that they look critically at what has been planned with the $2.5 billion in reconstruction aid and convey their opinions over how successful those projects will be.