It is time for Kurdish women to tell their stories …

It is time for Kurdish women to tell their stories … Ata Mala Karim
http://www.klawrojna.com/ 29 June 2006 KurdishMedia.com www.kurdmedia.com
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
This article is translated into Russian

It is not far behind for history when English women have started to tell their own stories about domestic violence and abuse in the 1970’s. In the 1970’s with the growing of feminism in the UK the English women were invited to tell their own stories. What was very interesting in those stories was the fact that when they were talking about their hard lives in the present, they took flashbacks to their miserable lives in the childhood.
Muncie& McLaughlin (2001) argue that although domestic violence is recognized long before child abuse, however when women told their stories about domestic violence they revealed that they have experienced sexual and physical abuse as children and domestic violence as adults. So, the feminist activists in the 1970’s England did not only bring domestic violence to light but child abuse as well; which was a hidden crime behind closed doors.
Family is traditionally known as a place of privacy and safety in contrast to the dangerous outside world. People usually feel safe when they are at home or even close to home, however family can be a dangerous place and a site of crime. Crime such as child abuse; physically, sexually, emotionally and mentally are mostly practiced at home, although this is not specific as child abuse may happen at care, and other places such as schools, churches, mosques and in the hands of the criminals justice officials. Domestic violence does not need any further explanation, as it is a specific crime for home and family, both traditional and contemporary friendship relationships.
Hale et al. (2005) mention some reasons for domestic violence such as low socio-economic status, dysfunctional families, pathological and medical reasons, patriarchy, the marginal role of women at home, alcoholism and drug addiction, weak community sanctions and male culture- machismo. If we look at the Kurdish society we can easily recognize many of these groundings for domestic violence, as well as some other conditions not mentioned or known by the authors.
Honour killing is part of Kurdish tradition both at home and in the Diaspora. Many articles are written regarding honour killing and many researches have been carried on in that filed. Honour killing is a brutal crime, a worse kind of crimes and of murder as well. It is one of the most pre-planned and deliberately executed murder crimes. However domestic violence is not only murder and so called honour killing, it may has many forms from rape within marriage, physical abuse, mental abuse and emotional abuse.
Kurdish family, same as other cultures, is known as a safe castle against the dangerous outside world. However there are many crimes which happen behind closed doors and within that safe castle, without any interference from the criminal justice agencies. Muncie, McLaughlin (2001) argue that if a man hit another man in the street it is well recognized as assault and crime, however if a man hits his wife or children it is known as a private matter; dealing with a trouble child, taming a bad wife, discipline, stress and etc… It can be argued that even honour killing is widely accepted in the eastern communities as a right of a man to take care of the so called honour of his family or relatives by killing a woman who has sex with a man outside of marriage. In this situation instead of blaming and criticism he may get a lot of support from the community. It is worth mentioning that there is evidence of some progress in this area; however it is still in its primitive stage.
Even in the developed industrialized countries domestic violence is widely practiced, however not all of it is reported to the police for many reasons, such as shame, to keep the family together, economical reasons, not wanting to hurt the husband, believing it is normal and it is her fault, so blaming herself, not seen and even when seen not considered as a crime. [Muncie and McLaughlin (2001)] In the Kurdish society, same as all the other oriental societies, marriage is not always a private relationship between two adults, but there are so many traditional and tribal ties which put it in a tight net that it is difficult to flee away from it. The relationship is considered as a relationship between the wider families of cousins, far cousins, uncles, aunts and all the other relatives. In this context any criticism of the husband is an insult against the man’s wider family which may bring bigger problems for the woman’s wider family. In this case many Kurdish women keep their problems for themselves and suffer in silence.
I have not a full investigation or research of the way the criminal justice agencies, the police and the courts deal with domestic violence in Kurdistan right now. From my personal experience as an adult male member of that society I have a lifelong wealth of information about domestic violence in the Kurdish society.
Since the uprising of 1991 a feminist movement in Kurdistan grew and it can be argued that they have contributed to the awareness of women and men as well in that society of the dangers of fatal abuses such as honour killings, girl circumcision, forced marriage, under age marriage and domestic violence. However, unfortunately these women organizations are part of the political scenario and it is apparent that each political party has it is own women organization, such as Zhinan from the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and Afratan form KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party). Ironically both Zhinan and Afratan mean women in Kurdish language and they choose two synonyms to make them recognized as two different organizations. In some regions of Kurdistan they use zhin (singular of Zhinan) for married women and Afrat (singular of Afratan) for female adults in the society, same as woman in English. The other political parties have formed their own women organizations and it is interesting to know that the Workers Communist Party called their organization the Neutral Women’s Organization, but it is very difficult to find a real Neutral organization in Kurdistan!
Kurdistan now has a unified regional government, they are planning for unification of all the government institutions, they have a president, prime-minister and a parliament; so it can be argued that it is time for Kurdish women to form their own independent professional women society far from the political parties and the political conflicts. They can concentrate on women rights and lobby for reforms in the Kurdish parliament for the benefits of women, regardless of their political or ideological belongings.
If Kurdish women have a chance to tell their own stories in their own words, we will realize how they are oppressed and how much they suffer. Without research and data, without campaigns and lobbies, without a voice to represent them, only a small minority may know about domestic violence, or more specifically, few people recognize it as a crime and even anti-social behaviour and deviance.
It is obvious that domestic violence and child abuse is not specified to the eastern or the third world countries, it is present almost every where, but by different degrees. A research in the UK in 1999 has revealed that:
§ One in four women experience domestic violence.
§ Every week two women are killed by their current or former partners.
§ Everyday thousands of children witness cruelty and violence behind closed doors.
§ One fourth of all violent crime is domestic violence.
[Muncie, & McLaughlin, 2001]
It can be argued that domestic violence and child abuse in the Kurdish society needs scientific and filed research. Children and the younger generation need better education and training in order to know their rights and the rights of others. Women have to get a chance to express themselves and have a voice to be heard outside the political circle of the political parties. Without a good progress in the fields of women and children rights any argument about human rights in Kurdistan is just waste of time and paper and nothing else.

Ata mala Karim Student of BA (hons) Criminology

Bibliography:

Hale, C., et al, (2005) Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kelly, L. (1999): Domestic Violence Matters: An evaluation of a Development Project. Home Office Research Study 193, London: Home Office. (Online)
Available from:http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors193.pdf
Accessed: 23 Jun. 06
Moore, S. (1997) Investigating Crime and Deviance.2nd edition, London: Collins.
Muncie, J., & McLaughlin (2001) The Problem of Crime. 2nd Ed. London: Sage Publications.
Williams, K., S., (2004) Textbook on Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Different Kurdish websites and e-Journals online.