Voice from the Commonwealth Commentary, World Views and Occasional Rants from a small 'l' libertarian in Massachussetts
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
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Iraqi women are studying the Kurdish-controlled north to see how women there have improved their status in the male-dominated Muslim society.
Iraqi Kurdistan has enjoyed virtual independence from the rest of Iraq since 1991, when the U.S., French and British governments set up a no-fly zone over the region.
Although the mountainous enclave has a long patriarchal tradition, during the past decade women here have pushed through legislation granting them unprecedented rights and protecting them from the honor killings that are commonplace elsewhere in the Middle East.
A newly formed Iraqi women's group has sent an eight-member delegation to meet with Kurdish women.
"Now that Iraq is free, we are demanding freedom and equal rights that Iraqi women have always been deprived of," Eman Ahmed, head of team for the Rising Iraqi Women's Organization, said Tuesday.
"To begin our struggle, we first decided to learn from the freedoms Kurdish women have enjoyed since 1991 and the changes they have introduced," she said.
In contrast, stringent curbs were imposed on women's rights in the past decade in the rest of Iraq as dictator Saddam Hussein sought to curry political support from conservative Muslim clerics.
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