Some days you feel glad to be an American.
Our government may be spying on us or shutting down over party disagreements, but at least we aren’t forcing our women to marry men they don’t want to. Moreover, we’re not forcing our girls under the age of 9 into marriage like new legislation in Iraq proposes.
The law, better known as the Jaafari Law, is expected to pass and will affect the Shia community.
As of now, Iraqi girls 15 and older can marry with a guardian’s consent. But the new law doesn’t list a minimum required age for marriage, and only the age mentioned is in the law’s divorce clause: 9 years old.
To make matters worse, a caveat of the law is a clause that condones marital rape. Officially, it decrees that “women must comply with their with their husband’s sexual demands.”
The first step in battling these injustices is spreading awareness. I know that without the Women’s and Gender Studies classes I’ve taken here at USC, I might not have known about the uphill battle women have faced in the U.S., let alone the rest of the world.
Gender equality is still a very pressing issue, even in the U.S., especially considering the youth of the legislation that supports it.
The Equal Pay Act just had its 50th anniversary, the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade that abortion is legal and the woman’s choice is only slightly younger at 41 years (1973), and marital rape was only outlawed in all 50 states happened 20 years ago (1993).
Our country’s history of women’s rights may be young, but it hardly takes an expert to realize Iraq’s latest legislation is appalling. Some of these girls are prepubescent, but they are being designated as the woman of the household. Then again, that title implies she has some degree of power in the home, which isn’t true.
I know, the obvious argument here is that “Iraq is a highly religious country, and these laws simply align with their religious beliefs.” But this isn’t an issue of religion; this is a matter of human rights, and those rights are being stolen from little Iraqi girls.
What’s worse is that men are inflicting these adverse effects on women. A quarter of the Iraqi parliament is made up of women due to a mandatory quota, and only one ministry is led by a woman: women’s affairs, naturally.
It is possible for this small number of people to upset an overwhelming majority, but in this case, the odds seem too high.
The women in parliament would have to convince men to give up the power that they shown no signs of relinquishing. In Iraq, men have all the power in the home, all the power in government and all the power over women’s bodies and rights. They show no signs of relenting.
The worst part about this law is that it’s being used as leverage to ensure Shia support for the parliamentary elections at the end of the month. Women’s rights aren’t just being taken, but they are also being used as leverage for a new set of leaders to come in and make more decisions about a large group of people that is being afforded very little voice.
It’s important that global awareness is raised for these women, because if their country won’t come to their aid, who will?