Iraqi women's involvement in reconstruction is instrumental for the country's development, the World Bank says.

The Bank recently hosted a group of 18 Iraqi women professionals in Washington. During the meeting the women provided input to a joint United Nations/World Bank needs assessment of their country, according to a November 20 Bank press release. The group included two members of Iraq's national governing council.

The meeting also launched a network of Iraqi women that will provide ongoing input to the Bank on gender as well as technical issues, the release said.

"The women so far have been marginally included in the reconstruction process. As we move forward, it's important for them to be more involved," said Nadereh Chamlou, senior adviser and gender coordinator in the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa Region.

The session concluded with an action plan developed by the women and Bank staff for training and capacity building. The first component will be in labor law, the release said.

"We got ideas for a strategy and gender issue priorities for Iraq in different fields, including education, health, even agriculture and electricity," said one participant. "Now we know how we can include women in the reconstruction of Iraq."

"This was something new for our ears," said another woman. "We don't really know the language of democracy. We don't know how to put projects together; we will have to learn."

Across the Middle East and North Africa, women remain a largely untapped resource, the release said.

Listening to Iraqi Women
World Bank and Iraqi women discuss priorities within Iraq's Needs Assessment

November 20, 2003 -- A group of 18 Iraqi women convened with World Bank officials last week to provide input to the Iraqi Joint Needs Assessment, a document that outlines Iraq's urgent needs and sets a blueprint for the way forward.

Women's participation and equality in social, economic and political spheres are instrumental for a country's development, considering that women constitute half of its population. This is even more amplified in the case of Iraq, where the immense development task includes both the rebuilding of physical infrastructure and the reconstruction of society along democratic and inclusive principles. The meeting was a chance for the women to learn about the Bank's operations and how they can work with the Bank. Bank experts also wanted the women's input into how to prioritize gender-related issues within the Joint Needs Assessment so that the Bank can see how it can best utilize its expertise to help women and Iraqi society overall reach these objectives. The Bank wants to ensure that reconstruction plans include gender dimensions from the very beginning.

"We fundamentally believe that in the development business, the role of women, and their participation, is essential," said World Bank President James Wolfensohn opening the meeting." Without gender involvement, you cannot have effective development."

"Throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, women's situation has improved in education, but it's slow in economic and political activities," Wolfensohn said.

Once a highly educated group, Iraq's women, however, have lost ground in the last 10-15 years.

"The women so far have been marginally included in the reconstruction process. As we move forward, it's important for them to be more involved. Gender equality is an integral part of good governance, which means respecting everybody's rights and taking everyone's needs into account," said Nadereh Chamlou, senior adviser and gender coordinator in the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa Region.

The women selected to participate in this meeting were all accomplished professionals in various fields, who came from different parts of Iraq and belong to different ethnic groups within the country. They included a physician, two Iraqi council members, a former minister of education, literature professor, a chemical engineer, several lawyers, and a computer scientist among others. All participants, however, are active in gender issues either through their work with NGOs or through their professional duties. For many of them, this was the first time they had traveled outside of Iraq.

They provided substantive comments and observations to the needs assessment. The meeting also launched a network of women in a variety of professions which will inform the Bank team not only on gender issues but also on technical and substantive issues.

At the end of the two-day meeting, the women and the Bank developed an action plan for further capacity building and training. The first component of the program, labor market laws and regulations and project design, will be delivered to them as early as next month by the World Bank Institute.

Following the workshop, the women received policy and leadership training organized by the program's co-sponsors -- the Woodrow Wilson Center, Women Waging Peace, and the American Bar Association.

"You have expressed huge needs and a very broad set of issues," said Mustapha Nabli, World Bank chief economist and director of the Middle East and North Africa Region. "It is important that we determine in which areas the Bank can bring some value."

Nabli stressed that the Bank can play a catalyst role and help women connect to other sources.

"You have been disconnected. Reconnecting is extremely important and this is something where we can help you."

Across the Middle East and North Africa region, women remain a largely untapped resource in the region despite generous public spending over the last few decades on health and education, as a recently released World Bank report on gender and development found.

The "Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Women in the Public Sphere" report lays out a plan of action for improving women's access to opportunity and economic security in the region. The report demonstrates that the region has borne a high cost for gender inequality. It recommends four broad areas of the policy recommendations, which include a review of the legislative environment, the provision of supportive infrastructure, continued attention to education, and reform of labor and social security laws and regulations.

DevNews [World Bank's Development News Media Center] interviewed several of the women after the conference. Here is what they had to say:

"We've found people who wanted to listen to us and hear our problems. For decades no Iraqi had the right to talk freely. It's important for Iraqis to communicate with the outside world to reflect their views, their vision and to find people who can help."

"We are starting from zero. We need women to be with men and share responsibility. We now have a new government, and women can be in these positions. It will be good to have more women working on women's issues."

"This was a chance for us to learn about what goes on in the World Bank. We got ideas for a strategy and gender issue priorities for Iraq in different fields, including education, health, even agriculture and electricity. Now we know how we can include women in the reconstruction of Iraq."

"This was something new for our ears. We don't really know the language of democracy. We don't know how to put projects together; we will have to learn. In my professional field, I know how to put a project together and read documents, but in this new field of NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], I can't read or make a project. I need somebody to teach me."

"Now we can learn how to create a labor market for women, so that women are independent. We can also learn about capacity building. Although I'm a leader of my organization, I don't know anything about capacity building, I need to learn that."

"We have NGOs, but they have been working without any support, and now they can ask for support from abroad. We have projects and ideas for training, computers, learning English, an orphanage, but we need the money for these projects."