VIDEO: Iraqi Kurds Mark Women's Day
To mark the international day of women, protesters in Sulaymanieh called for a special day for women's rights. Hundreds of women joined the usual daily crowd of protesters in the city square with many speaking from the podium about the problems Kurdish women face.
Women are discriminated against in most forms of employment, particularly in the public sector. Across the region young mothers can be seen earning a living by begging or selling in the streets.
The dominance of men attending the protests, even on women's day, highlights the social restrictions women, who are in many ways treated as second-class citizens, face. But this issue is just scrapping the surface. Culturally, family honor is believed to be manifested in the virtue of women. These students began a protest for stronger laws against so called honor killings.
Goran lawmaker Gulistan Saeed said women are not treated equally under the Iraqi constitution or law.
According to government reports, in Iraqi Kurdistan during the first 6 months last year, 59 women were murdered and 239 were set on fire either by themselves or their own family members for the sake of family honor. There were 1038 reports of domestic violence and 63 reported rapes.
As hundreds of women gathered in the town square to fight for women's rights, thousands more suffer in fear and silence behind closed doors.