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A Study of Social Factors Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Female Suicide and Attempted Suicide in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: A Study of Social Factors Rasool, Izaddin Award date: 2013 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 Female Suicide and Attempted Suicide in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: A Study of Social Factors Izaddin Abdulsamad Rasool 2013 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social Sciences College of Business, Law, Education and Social Sciences Bangor University ABSTRACT Female suicide is considered to be a serious problem in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). This research explores the topic ‘Female suicide and attempted suicide in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: A study of social factors’. In recent times, female suicide in Kurdish society has become one of the most pressing social issues. According to Rasool (2004), the female suicide rate is more than four times higher than that of males in the KRI. Indeed, according to Othman (2010), in Sulaimani City the female suicide rate is nearly nine times higher than that of males. Therefore, the study has focused on females who attempted and committed suicide in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The aim of this study is to identify common contributory factors to female attempted and committed suicide since 1991 in the KRI. This research is based on three types of data collection: questionnaire, expert interview and media sources. Research questionnaires were administered to a sample of 100 females who had attempted suicide in three cities: Erbil (Hawler), Dohuk, and Sulaimani. The questionnaires were either self-administered or face-to- face interview. Additional qualitative information was collected through semi-structured, face- to-face interviews with four different groups: journalists, the Directorate for Monitoring Violence against Women (DMVAW) coroners, and clerics. The data from the interviews is presented and analysed in relation to the themes and questions which emerged in the questionnaire findings. The main data collected on the phenomenon of female attempted and committed suicide in the KRI came from three cities, Erbil (Hawler), Dohuk, and Sulaimani, between June and September 2010. In addition, 322 female suicide reports were collected from eight local Kurdish newspapers in the KRI. The findings indicate that self-burning is the most common suicide method for young females aged 14-30, with the youngest at 14 years old, and the oldest at 35. Social factors such as traditional marriage, forced marriage, marital and family conflict, and conflict with in-laws, domestic violence, love affairs, social isolation, gender discrimination, women’s freedom, continuing education, taking revenge, culture and traditions, are the main drivers for female suicide attempters and committers in the KRI. The findings and conclusions of the study are different from the results of western studies of suicide whose patterns are not applicable to Kurdish society. The study calls on the Kurdistan Regional Government to intervene not only to remedy the situation but also to make legal provisions to mitigate or try to eliminate the phenomenon altogether. NOTE OF TRANSLITERATION Many varieties of names can be found in use in my selected research cities. For example, -Erbil, Arbil and Irbil -Dohuk, Duhok -Sulaimani, Slemani, Suleimaniah In my research I refer to city names as follows: Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimani, due to the fact that these are the Latin spellings in most common use among people in the KRI. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF FIGURES Vi LIST OF TABLES Vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS X LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xi DECLARATION Xii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF KURDISTAN 1 Geography 1 Political History 4 Contemporary Governance 6 Demography 10 Economy and Employment 12 Education 13 Religion 15 Marriage, Family and Household Structure in the KRI 17 Female Living Conditions in the KRI 23 CHAPTER 2: SUICIDE AND ATTEMTED SUICIDE 28 Orientations and Definitions of Suicide 28 Philosophers, Religion, and Suicide 29 Christianity and Suicide 31 Judaism and Suicide 33 Islam and Suicide 34 Culture, Tradition and Suicide 35 Theories of Suicide 38 Sociological Theories of Suicide 38 Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide(1897) 38 Cavan (1928) 41 Halbwachs (1930) 42 Sainsbury (1955) 43 Gibbs and Martin (1964) 44 Girard (1993) 45 Psychological Theories of Suicide 48 Freud (1917) 49 Zilboorg (1937) 50 Menninger (1938) 50 Shneidman (1985) 50 i Conclusion 51 CHAPTER 3: COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON 53 FACTORS TO EXPLAIN RATES OF FEMALE SUICIDE Age and Gender 56 Marital Status 58 South Asian Female Suicide in Western Countries 61 United Kingdom 61 Canada 63 Education 64 Economic Conditions and Unemployment 65 Social Class and Occupation 67 Life Stress (Family Relationships) 69 Suicide Patterns in Muslim Countries 70 Conclusion 75 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS 77 Data Collection 79 Negotiating Access 80 Working in the Field 82 A. Media Sources 82 B. Victim Questionnaire 83 Meeting with the Research Participants 84 Target Institutions 85 Government Institutions 85 Non- Government Organizations 86 Rate of Participation 87 C. Expert Interviews 89 Conduct of the Expert Interviews 91 Research Ethics 92 Fieldwork Challenges 94 Analysing the Data 95 CHAPTER 5: THE ANALYSIS OF MEDIA SOURCES 96 Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Female Suicide Cases in the 98 KRI Profile of Suicides in News Reports 100 Case Analysis Using Media Sources 103 ii Social Factors 103 Failure in Academic Achievement 117 Mental Health Factors 119 Framing of Suicide Reports 120 Discussion 123 Amplification and Moral Panic 125 CHAPTER 6: ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH 129 QUESTIONNAIRE I: DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL VARIABLES Age Range of Females Attempted Suicide 129 Marital Status 131 Type of Marriage 132 Participants’ Relationship with their Husbands 133 Family and Household Structure 139 Place of Residence of Females who Attempted Suicide 142 Education 144 Economic Status and Occupations of Females who Attempted Suicide 146 Conclusion 150 CHAPTER 7: ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH 152 QUESTIONNAIRE II: PATTERNS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR AND MOTIVES Method of Attempted Suicide 152 Previous Suicide Attempts 154 Factors Contributing to Female Attempted Suicide 155 Broken Promises from the Husband 156 Problems with in-laws 156 Independent Family Life 157 Family Problems 157 Divorce 158 Rejection 158 Problem of Economic Independence 158 Sharing Matters with other People 160 Motivations 161 domestic Violence 161 iii Feelings of Isolation 163 Life worth Living 166 Regret for the Act 168 Revenge 169 The Opinion of the Respondents towards the Act 171 Feel Oppressed by the Traditions 171 Performing Religious Duties 172 Suicide Attempt as a Crime 174 Impact of other Attempts 174 Television Viewing 178 Watching Someone Committing Suicide in a Movie and having 180 Knowledge of Someone who has ever Attempted Suicide Suicide Notes 182 Analysis Participant Suicide Notes 183 Preventive Factors/Measures in Suicide Attempts 189 Conclusion 190 CHAPTER 8:THE ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH 192 INTERVIEWS Disclosing Victims’ Identities 193 Do Published Suicide Reports Encourage others to Commit Suicide? 195 Has the Rate of Female Suicide Increased? 197 Consequences of Suicide 198 Should Female Suicide Attempters be Prosecuted? 202 Interpretations of Motive 207 Suicide, Kurdish Culture and Society 209 Support for Women 215 Issues of Responsibility 217 Conclusion 219 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION OF 222 FINDINGS Kurdistan: Tradition and Modernity 222 Theories of Suicide: the KRI in Context 226 Social Factors in Suicide 229 iv Religion, Culture and Suicide 234 Media and Suicide 236 Implications for Prevention Policy 239 1- Public Awareness 240 2- Statistics 241 3- Helpline 241 4- Counselling 241 5- The role of the Media 242 6- Religious Education 242 7- Reducing the Availability of Means 242 8- Law 242 9- Women’s Rights 242 APPENDICES 244 BIBLIOGRAPHY A 281 BIBLIOGRAPHY B 298 v LIST OF FIGURES PAGE CHAPTER 1 3-21 Figure 1.1: Map of Kurdistan 3 Figure 1.2: Map of Iraqi Kurdistan 7 Figure 1.3: Provincial Map of Kurdistan Regional Government 8 Figure 1.4: Age range of marriage 21 CHAPTER 4 81 Figure 4.1: Access flowchart 81 CHAPTER 5 97-127 Figure 5.1: Readership of weekly newspapers in the KRI, 2008 97 Figure 5.2: Reported cases of female suicide in the KRI newspapers (2006 99 to 2010). Figure 5.3: Age ranges of the reported cases of female suicide. 100 Figure 5.4: Marital status of the reported cases. 101 Figure 5.5: Occupation of reported cases. 101 Figure 5.6: Method of attempting and committing suicide of reported 102 cases. Figure 5.7: Media ways of portraying a victim’s identity in wedding gowns 125 Figure 5.8: Media ways of portraying a victim’s identity in Kurdish 126 traditional costume Figure 5.9: Media ways of portraying a victim’s identity on the front page 126 Figure 5.10: Media ways of portraying a victim’s identity - 3 cases 127 CHAPTER 6 129-148 Figure 6.1: Age range of females attempting suicide 129 Figure 6.2: Marital status 131 Figure 6.3: Do you have any children? 139 Figure 6.4: Does anyone live in your household apart from your husband 140 and children? Figure 6.5: What type of house do you live in? 141 Figure 6.6: Place of residence.
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