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'Gender Analysis of Iraq's Electoral and Political Process' Gender Analysis of Iraq’s Electoral and Political Process October 2019 Gender Analysis of Iraq’s Electoral and Political Process October 2019 Lead Author: Gina Chirillo Contributing Author: Caroline Roddey The authors wish to thank Zeinab Abdelkarim, Gabrielle Bardall, Elizabeth Reiter Dettmer, Anna Wiktorowska, and Ambar Zobairi for their reviews and inputs on this paper. Gender Analysis of Iraq’s Electoral and Political Process Copyright © 2019 International Foundation for Electoral Systems. All rights reserved. Permission Statement: No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of IFES. Requests for permission should include the following information: • A description of the material for which permission to copy is desired. • The purpose for which the copied material will be used and the manner in which it will be used. • Your name, title, company or organization name, telephone number, fax number, email address, and mailing address. Please send all requests for permission to: International Foundation for Electoral Systems 2011 Crystal Drive, 10th Floor Arlington, VA 22202 Email: [email protected] Fax: 202.350.6701 Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Assessment Report ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Legal Framework ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Election Administration .......................................................................................................................... 12 Women’s Political Participation .............................................................................................................. 16 Voter Registration ................................................................................................................................... 21 Voter Information and Education ........................................................................................................... 25 Political Parties/Coalitions ...................................................................................................................... 28 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................................... 33 Annex 1: Gender Breakdown of IHEC Staff ................................................................................................. 35 Annex 2: IHEC Organizational Chart ............................................................................................................ 38 Annex 3: Gender Breakdown of Voters ...................................................................................................... 39 References .................................................................................................................................................. 41 International Foundation for Electoral Systems Executive Summary While progress has been achieved since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, women in Iraq remain on the margins of political life and are excluded from decision-making processes that affect them. Decisions made and policies implemented by government institutions help shape perceptions of the roles that women and men play in Iraqi society and determine their access to rights and resources. Delivering an inclusive election is an important entry point to ensuring that all Iraqis are able to build a more developed democracy that is responsive and accountable to women and men alike. Ahead of the provincial elections, now scheduled for April 2020, it is critical to consider how Iraq’s elections can be inclusive to all citizens. Despite the impressive history of Iraq’s women’s movement, to date there is no area of the electoral process in which women and men enjoy equal access and opportunity. While the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has recognized the importance of women’s inclusion, a lack of resources for gender equality programming and the gender working group means that many initiatives to increase women’s political participation are under-resourced. The legal gender quota is also a positive step, but a lack of clarity in how it is properly applied and to which elections is a source of confusion and distrust. In the past, some voter education campaigns began too late and did not adequately target those farthest on the margins, especially women who also belong to other marginalized groups, like women from ethnic and religious minorities and women who are displaced. Political parties also have a history of not providing sufficient financial support, networks or resources to women candidates or women in elected office, and there is a lack of women in political party leadership. Finally, women who participate in politics – especially women candidates – are often targets of disinformation and hate speech on social media, meant to pressure them into silence and to withdraw from political life. The purpose of this report is to identify gender gaps and opportunities to promote political inclusion and mitigate obstacles to participation faced by Iraqi women. Findings and recommendations from this report can serve to further gender equality in political and electoral processes, and it is recommended that identified stakeholders implement these recommendations to increase women’s political participation throughout Iraq. Information was collected through desk review and semistructured interviews with key stakeholders. There are significant opportunities and ongoing vulnerabilities related to fostering women’s equal and meaningful participation in political and electoral processes. The chart on the following page highlights some of the most important ones identified in this study. They are further described in the “Assessment Findings” section of this report. 1 Gender Analysis of Iraq’s Electoral and Political Process Gender Analysis Summary of Findings Category Opportunities Vulnerabilities Legal Framework • Iraq has ratified international • Substitution rules leave an opportunity for agreements and signed onto some parties to replace a woman regional frameworks that support parliamentarian with a man. women’s equal participation. • Seat allocation regulations supporting the • Iraq’s Constitution guarantees gender quota law do not include guidance women’s rights to equally participate for women candidates who win in public life. independent of the quota. • There is a 25 percent gender quota for elected offices. Election • A gender working group exists and has • Women make up only 14 percent of IHEC Administration implemented meaningful staff. programming. • There are no women on the Board of • The IHEC is equipped to collect or has Commissioners. collected gender-disaggregated data • IHEC departments do not designate any during multiple phases of the electoral funds for gender-specific interventions and process. programs. • There is no budget allocated to IHEC gender working group nor any full-time dedicated staff. Women’s Political • Seventy-seven percent of survey • There is a lack of women in political Participation respondents supported women’s leadership positions – such as in rights.1 government – to act as role models or • Women’s civil society organizations prominent women leaders. are positioned to provide support on • There are rampant online attacks and increasing women’s political harassment against women participating in participation as voters and as the political process as candidates, voters candidates. and election officials. • Iraq has a higher proportion of women • There are no women in Cabinet positions. in Parliament than the global and • There are some instances of family voting. regional average.2 Voter Registration • For the 2018 parliamentary elections, • Voters must go to registration centers there were women staff members on twice to obtain biometric voter cards. all registration teams. Given conflict in certain regions and child • During the 2018 elections, there were care responsibilities, visiting twice may be mobile registration units that went to difficult for women. internally displaced person camps. • Voter information on voter registration is • Regulations protecting privacy help limited. women feel more comfortable about • Areas with higher level of insecurity and registering. more conservative cultural beliefs have lower levels of women registering to vote. 2 Iraq ranks 67th in the world on proportion of women in Parliament out of 192 countries for which there is data, putting it slightly above the world average of 24.3 percent and the Middle East and North Africa average of 19 percent. Source: “Women in Parliaments: World and Regional Averages,” Inter-Parliamentary Union, n.d., http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm.; “Percentage of Women in National Parliaments,” Inter-Parliamentary Union, n.d.,
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