ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The gender gap in the Iraqi security sector and limited number of operational and decision making roles available to women officers is contributing to significant gaps in civilian protection - not least among the country’s female population - a new report into the status of women in Iraq’s security forces released on Tuesday to mark International Women’s Day has found.
A nominal percentage of women in security force roles in both federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region combined with the lack of senior positions are filled by female officers within police and military institutions, the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) report finds, increases the protection risks for all civilians and impacts the efficacy of security and intelligence operations across the country.
In perhaps the most concerning finding from a security perspective, CIVIC explains how the lack of female officers conducting searches of female civilians at checkpoints increases the exposure of security forces and civilians to threats such as bombings from female militants. “Without a robust cadre of female officers throughout the security sector, security forces across the country will continually face critical mission success challenges,” the report warns.
Based on over 50 interviews with officers and civilians in federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region between July 2019 and November 2021, the project co-authored by former CIVIC researcher Paula Garcia examines the status of women's participation in Iraq's security forces, obstacles that inhibit women from joining or being promoted within the military and police, and the effects of the gender gap in women's representation within Iraq's security sector.
To commemorate International Women’s Day, it sets out a series of recommendations for concrete actions to improve the situation including - above all - attempts to make Iraq’s security forces better reflective of the population and meaningful inclusion of more women in positions of influence.
To the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) it calls for increased support for security infrastructure, with attention to facilities and uniforms suitable for female officers, trainers, and supervisors, awareness-raising campaigns targeting the Iraqi population to tackle stereotypes and biases as well as shifting community perceptions on women holding operational and high-authority roles in the security sector, and enacting and enforcing laws and policies that forbid, prosecute, and punish harassment and bias based on gender in and by security institutions, among other suggestions.
"To ensure civilian protection in Iraq, the security forces must represent equally all Iraqi people,” CIVIC's Iraq Researcher and author of the brief Jordan Lesser-Roy said. “As it currently stands, Iraqi security forces lack vital female voices and inputs at the officer and leadership levels.”
“Without improvements in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women within Iraq's security sector, female civilians will continue to experience gaps in protection and the forces themselves will struggle to achieve maximum operational efficacy," she continued.
Even where female officers operate, the report says, they tend not to be in key decision-making roles, providing plenty of examples of toxic power dynamics and harassment by male officers among both the vulnerable female civilian population and fellow officers. One interviewee - a female police officer in Mosul - summarises the situation as she sees it. "Filling complaints, taking witnesses statements, or conducting investigations, it is all in men's hands… female police officers are outside [the police station] searching women coming into the building. That's their only role."
An anonymous female Peshmerga officer shares her thoughts on the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga saying, "Whenever they send a letter or make a statement, they say that they welcome women integration in the force and that they encourage women to join, but in practice they don't implement the decisions to make this possible. If they favor so much gender equality, then why haven't they created and staffed yet the gender unit?"
Speaking to Rudaw English on Monday, Lesser-Roy outlined the report’s findings in further detail, acknowledging that female representation among security forces is far better in the Kurdistan Region, compared to federal Iraq - an achievement she linked to the Region’s culture and history. Even so, more progress is desired to avoid relegating women to subordinate positions, or only in higher roles in the KRG’s Combating Violence Against Women Directorate, for example/
“It is normal for police stations to lack the presence of trained female officers,” Lesser-Roy continued, and this absence is concerning for civilian women in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region because they are then effectively prevented from accessing resources and seeking justice for violations or abuses because of cultural and patriarchal restrictions.
Barriers to women's inability to the security sector in Iraq include a conservative culture, infrastructure, and policy issues within the forces, as well as a lack of political will, the report says. Within the forces, issues such as hiring policies, capacity-building and training all play a part in contributing to an unwelcoming environment for women.
Iraq suffers from high rates of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, domestic violence, so-called honor violence, child marriages, and female genital mutilation. While, unlike federal Iraq, the Kurdistan Region has passed domestic violence legislation and has a dedicated directorate to deal with violence against women and girls, recent weeks have seen a string of femicides.
The report is focused on the representation of women in positions in Iraq’s security forces, but Lesser-Roy told Rudaw English that there is a connection between the impact of female representation in law enforcement and in decision making roles within the security sector, and policies aimed at tackling the high rates of violence against women.
Twenty-four women were murdered in the Kurdistan Region in the past year, according to statistics from the Directorate of Combatting Violence against Women. Already this week, at least two women have been killed - Shame Ismael, 43, in Khanke camp, near Dohuk, and Eman Sami Maghdid, 20, in Erbil - taking the toll of women killed in the Region since the year began to double digits.
The existence of a patriarchal system and lack of representation across the country is an issue for all Iraqis, and an attitude of prejudice against the inclusion of women in security forces is pervasive across the world. This International Women’s Day, CIVIC’s report hopes to challenge this view.
