Ministry of Women enforces special clothes to women

28-1-2012

A large hassle over the recommendations of Higher Committee of “Women Awareness” happened. Minister of State for Women Affairs, Ibtihal Zaidi supervises that committee. The main factor of the chaotic situation is due to enforcing a special kind of clothing to the governmental women employees.

The recommendations clear that, “All governmental women employees must be committed to wear a kind of clothes which are appropriate to governmental office work”, without indicating the type and color of the clothes, but according to the newspaper information the recommendations confirm that short and tight clothes, trousers and vivid colors must not be put on, nevertheless banning putting on some kinds of shoes.

Those who advocate women‌s rights are referring to “appropriate clothes” expression as wearing hijab or a kind of clothes that show religious feature on the women‌s freedom account.

Analyzing this expression comes after noticing the previous experiences of minister of women who belongs to “Law State List”. She was known for her harshness against women‌s freedom, even in last October she decided to segregate men from women in her ministry on the pretext that women could get more of their freedom in working, moving and praying.

Religious Parties were pleased to hear this decision and thought that it is a must commitment to the working women in the government, though most leaders of those parties kept themselves aside to express their opinion directly, unless a journalist asks for their opinion on that matter which is, in this case, quite against their tradition, because in any other political issues they compete to express their opinion as soon as possible.

Hashim Khzr Sa‌ddi, Islamic Higher Counsel Leader told Niqash paper that, the reason behind the decision is to follow “covering oneself” in governmental offices in which some women are “transgressing in putting on too much makeup, jewelry, tight clothes that do not match with Islam”.

Sa‌ddi showed his shocking over the media chaos about the matter and says, “the decision is just to protect women, standing against it, is an attempt to politicizing the issue”.

Iraqi Women Web which consists of 18 civil society organizations and takes care of women rights protested against these recommendations and declared they are obstacles and hinders before women‌s freedom and it is an attempt to obliterate women‌s personality.

The web rose up their oral disagreement to parliament women committee and at the same time they have raised a memorandum which consists of 10 comments and 10 recommendations to address parliament legislation committee to be discussed before approving project laws of Ministry of Women and Family.

Among the recommendations the Web demands for, is canceling State Ministry for Women Affairs and form “Women Independence Higher Commission” the same as Women Higher Commission in Kurdistan Region in a way the commission should be attached to the parliament rather the government.