The Status Of Kurdish Women

     In reports about the status of women in Islamic countries,
the subordinate position of women is usually attributed to the
prevailing ideology of Islam. We think that one should first
consider the historical, social, and cultural background in order
to understand the status of women. This is also true when looking
at the women of Kurdistan.
     An examination of the status of women in Iranian Kurdistan
is made more difficult by the fact that there is relatively
little information about this part of Iran and its people.
Therefore, in writing this article, we had to rely on sources
which focus on Kurdistan in general, or on Iraqi or Turkish
Kurdistan, and we used these as much as possible in relation to
Iranian Kurdistan.
     As in the areas which border Kurdistan, development has
proceeded differently in urban and rural areas. This helps
explain the differences in the living situation of women. Because
Iranian Kurdistan is only scarcely industrialized, with 80% of
the population involved in agriculture, it seems appropriate to
focus on the situation of Kurdish women in the countryside in
this text.
     We would like, in brief, to sketch the socio-economic
foundations in conjunction with the norms and values which help
strengthen these socio-economic structures.

The Economic And Social Conditions

     In literature, a distinction is made between Kurds who live
in the mountains and those who inhabit the valleys. Because, in
the course of time, different social and economic systems have
arisen and very different types of villages have come into being.
     The economic foundation of the villages is primarily farming
and livestock. The fields are cultivated with traditional means,
as machines are an economic question. The staple crops are wheat,
barley, tobacco, and rice. The livestock are generally cattle,
sheep, and goats.

Tribal Society

     The traditional social organization is the tribe. This
includes the community and religious leader (the 'rais' or
'sarok' or 'scheich'), his family, the aristocracy and its
members, the normal villagers, the farmers, and the shepherds.
Although today only about 15-20% of the population in Iranian
Kurdistan still live in tribes, these still should be looked at
since tribal elements are still relevant in areas where feudal
relationships have come into being. The primary political and
land-owning unit is the tribe ('taifa' or 'tira'). A tribe
consists of several households ('chel' = family, clan), usually
20-30. A 'chel', in turn, can occupy several villages. The
members of a 'chel' are all descendants from a single male
patriarch. The organization of relatives is, for the tribes,
above all a mechanism for political and economic order. It
guarantees social interests such as access to land and pastures,
distribution and storage of the harvests, and the reproductive
capabilities of women. It assigns political positions and insures
that there is mutual loyalty between the armed men. The
organization of relatives, therefore, maintains the cohesiveness
of the group.
     The main political unity between the tribes is the tribal
confederation ('aschiret'). Land is jointly owned by the tribe,
but each family is responsible for its own plot. At harvest time,
the farmers provide each other with assistance and share their
beasts of burden. They also put together collective teams of
field workers ('dschung'). Likewise the pastures are jointly
owned by the village. In tribal society, there is political and
economic inequality, but this is not institutional. There are
working methods of redistribution. The rich have social
responsibilities. And formerly, at least, they could not use
their wealth as a means to gain political power.

Feudal Relations

     Generally, there are less tribal relations than there are
feudal relations. Villagers are usually not related to the large
land owner. The normal unit of land is a village, including its
houses and the fields which the villagers cultivate. The land
owner need not live in the village. If he owns more than one
village, he appoints a deputy. The land owner leaves the fields
in the hands of the farmers. No one is allowed to move away
without his permission. The tax which the villagers must pay to
the land owner is very high. The rate is sometimes as high as 50%
of the tobacco crop and 10% of the wheat, in addition to the
ploughs and threshers which belong to the land owner.

The Role Of The Village Household

     Today, it is possible to recognize a series of intermediate
stages in the transformation from a tribal to a feudal village.
In each case, the household is the most important economic and
social unit. Only people who are part of a household can be part
of the village society, anyone who does not belong is an
outsider. The household unites all means of production: labour,
land, the right to cultivate, cattle, and tools. In the
household, the individual is subordinate to the group. An
individual can only be a social person in so far as that person
abides by the village's mode of conduct. An individual only has
social status if they are a member of a household, a
neighbourhood, a factory, and so on. These social molecules are
the basic structural elements of rural society. Anyone outside of
these is not only socially isolated, but also physically
impoverished.

Women In The Production And Reproduction Process

     Sources available to us mainly concentrate on the status of
women in villages in which tribal elements still function, but
where a strong social change has set in which has aligned the
interests of the village aristocracy with those of the large land
owner.
     In a country like Iran, it is very characteristic to see a
coexistence of capitalist and pre-capitalist production
relations. Here, labour which produces goods and that which Marx
termed the "natural form of work" exist side by side.
     Kurdistan is only scarcely industrialized and the economy is
generally at the subsistence level. There are no consumer goods
produced, only needed goods, in other words those things which
are required to produced enough food for the region and to pay
the tax to the land owner. Relationships between relatives play a
very important role here. Individual household members are
dependent upon other members. Both genders are assigned their
respective tasks in the production and reproduction process. The
men do the heavy field work, they buy goods in the city, and they
are responsible for contacts with the outside world. The women,
in addition to working in the fields, must take care of the house
and the family. The lack of industrialization and the subsistence
economy are particularly hard on the women. But there is, of
course, a distinction to be made between women in poor village
families and women in the village aristocracy.

The Labour Of Women

     The life of lower class Kurdish women in the villages is
physically difficult and strenuous. Women wake up at five in the
morning, rest for a while at noon, and usually don't go to sleep
until almost midnight. In between is a hard day's work.
     The housework of Kurdish women is nothing like we are used
to. In addition to tasks traditionally associated with women's
work, like cooking, cleaning, making the beds, doing the dishes,
and so on, they also have to bake bread, milk the animals, work
in the fields, collect firewood, fetch water, and more. In order
to imagine the demands made on Kurdish women, it is important to
consider their standard of living. There is no electricity or
running water. More than 80% of the houses are made from earth
materials. The interior is a mixture of dirt and straw. More than
50% of all families live together in one main room (families
consist of 5-6 people). In houses in the mountains, this room is
on the first floor, and under this is the stable. Cooking and
baking are done in ovens made into the ground. There is no water
in the house, only at the common well in the village. Bread is
baked in the ground ovens outside the house. Usually, neighbours
work together and give each other support.
     Twice a day, the women go watch the animals, the cows,
sheep, and goats. They either milk the animals themselves or
fetch a quantity of milk from the shepherds. Milk is never
consumed raw, rather it is always transformed into butter or
yogurt. This task is done by the women at home.
     Wood used for cooking and baking, and for heat in the
winter, is scarce. This is also collected by the women.
     Fetching water is a difficult procedure. It is carried to
the house in flasks and goat's leather pouches where it is used
sparingly for cooking and cleaning.
     Washing is done outside the house in a basin. The village
women hang their clothes out to dry together. Ironing is done
with an iron filled with glowing hot coals.
     In addition to all these tasks, Kurdish women, in the course
of the day, must also prepare hot meals. Because there are no
refrigerators, food cannot be stored because of the climate,
therefore each day a great deal of time must be allotted for
preparing meals. When the housework is finished, the women must
then turn their attention to other production activities, such as
making new leather pouches and spinning and weaving. Aside from
cooking, making the beds, and all the other tasks, a lot of the
work takes place outside of the home and is done collectively by
the women of the village.
     For work in the fields, which is done in addition to the
housework, women are essential labourers, especially at harvest
time. For example, they transport the harvest to the threshing
spot. Threshing machines are an economic question. Only large and
wealthy farms can afford them. Threshing is done with the aid of
animals or by means of another method: the women and men toss the
grain into the air with rakes, then the wind takes the chaff
while the wheat falls to the ground.
     Ploughing the fields is men's work, but is often done by the
women nonetheless. Here, too, machines are lacking. The plough is
pulled by two animals.
     It's clear that the differentiation in labour in family
production is not the result of physiological or biological
differences between men and women, but rather is the result of
social relations. Characteristic of this is the fact that the
field work done by women by hand is the result of a lack of
machines.
     Again, a distinction must be made between poor women and
women from the village aristocracy. One difference is the living
conditions. In contrast to the houses of poor villagers, which
are terraced on the sides of the mountains, farm houses belonging
to the aristocracy are generally free standing. They also have
three parts: the family house, the farm, and the guest quarters.
In contrast to the houses of poor farmers, these houses also have
their own well, thus making it much easier to obtain water. The
combination family house and farm marks the borders of the daily
lives of these women.
     Another difference is the fact that wealthy homes usually
employ service girls who carry out most of the heavy work. They
are the ones, for example, who milk the animals twice a day,
collect firewood, who make the bread, butter, and yogurt, and so
on. The tasks of wealthy women are no different that those of
women of the lower classes. The difference, however, lies in the
fact that upper class people can employ service girls. Upper
class women take care of whatever tasks can be done in the house
and in the immediate surroundings, with the help of the service
girls and the children. Activities outside the house, like
milking the animals, are done by the service girls. In contrast
to poorer women, therefore, wealthy women have much less freedom
of movement since their tasks are limited to those in the house
itself. Furthermore, they do not do any collective tasks outside
the home. 

The Family

     Family forms are also in a period of transition. The
development is moving away from the traditional large family,
with one or more woman, married sons with their wives and
children, as well as the unmarried children, to the nuclear
family. The foundation of the strictly patriarchal large family
was the land. But the masses of the rural population do not own
any land. Therefore, the typical family in Iran consists of 5-6
people, so we don't find any large extended families here.
     There are big differences to be noted with respect to
marriage and the family. For the land owner, who gets rich off
the labour of others, the family is the means of keeping his
wealth in his lineage. Marriage is a matter of family politics.
The land owner plans marriages with influential neighbours.
Polygamy still exists today among the older generation. This
makes it easier to insure that all the wealth stays in the same
class. Poor farmers are monogamous. They have just one women,
since their labour, both agricultural as well as domestic, is
focused on household production. In addition to her use as a
worker, the women are valued for their ability to reproduce.
Children aren't just extra hands in the fields, they are also a
form of old age insurance, since without their help it wouldn't
be possible to survive late in life.
     Here, too, it's clear that marriage is not a private union
between two partners, rather as a production unit it is an
institution of enormous social significance and importance, an
economic and sexual union of necessity.

Marriage

     Arranged marriages are common to all families of all village
classes, irregardless of the family's social status.
     Because of the significance of marriages, a dowry is
prepared for girls starting very early. If a son should "take a
woman" (note the sexist terminology!), then it's up to father to
choose a bride and arrange the marriage. Criteria for selecting a
bride are: the girl's honour and skills, her health and ability
to work hard, her talents, her good nature, and her
submissiveness. Mothers have only an advisory role in the
selection, if any. Daughters are not asked about their wishes. A
sign of interest in the opposite sex would detract from her
reputation. After dowry negotiations are complete, a period of
time is designated for the engagement. For the bride, a wedding
is a sad occasion. It means saying goodbye to her family and
friends and entering into an entirely new life as the daughter-
in-law of her husband's household, where she will occupy the
lowest level of the family's hierarchy, subordinate to the
husband, his brothers, and the mother-in-law. The father-in-law
does not speak with her until she has given birth to a child.
     The most important demand on young brides is that they be
virgins. After the wedding night, a bloody sheet must be
displayed. If there is no blood visible, a gynaecologist will
examine the young bride to see if there is some reason for this
other than a lack of virginity. If not, the bride is killed by
the men of the family: the bothers, the father, the cousins, all
of whom have had their honour sullied.

Children

     Nothing is more important to a woman's prestige than to have
children. The woman's natural ability to reproduce is the measure
of the value of a marriage in all classes. If the woman does not
produce any children, she is seen as worthless and must forever
live in fear of her husband taking on another woman.
     The birth of a son insures her great honour. But giving
birth to children also involves many risks. Women give birth with
the aid of a midwife, usually an old and experienced woman. There
are no doctors in villages. It often happens that either the
woman or the child dies during childbirth because there is no
medical assistance available. It is very difficult to get to a
hospital, and even then it would be too expensive. The infant
mortality rate is very high. A child's life is only really
considered safe when he or she is old enough to eat meals with
the adults. Normally, there is no available birth control. Women
use traditional means such as feathers and herbs. But such
abortion methods, without medical assistance and control, are
very risky. Women often get fatal infections and die. In contrast
to fundamentalist Islamic societies, women who have had abortions
are not persecuted. But generally all babies are brought into the
world. There are cases where women have had as many as 15 births,
but only a few children survive. Boys are preferred over girls,
because sons can work in the fields and marry, but daughters
simply leave home. Also, boys don't require a dowry. If a woman
gives birth to a girl, the husband has the right to take on a
second wife. The birth of a girl, or the failure to give birth at
all, are seen as the fault of the woman.
     A child is viewed as part of the community when he or she
reaches 6-7 years of age. There are no "children at play",
because there are no toys. Childhood is simply a phase of growing
into adulthood. But little boys have more freedom of movement
than do little girls. While the little boys are out playing the
street or even being taken into the living room with their
father, the girls are usually helping with the housework, taking
care of their younger siblings, and so on. Specific roles in
education help make the little boys and girls into future men and
women.

Educational Possibilities

     When children reach the age when they are old enough to
attend school, it is usually the boys rather than the girls who
are sent, provided there's even a school in the area. The poorly
equipped schools in Iranian Kurdistan are not adequate for the
needs of the region. There are some villages where a single
teacher must instruct 250-300 pupils. Instruction is in a
language which the children don't understand, Persian, since the
Shah banned education in Kurdish and today this is still only
possible in limited areas, usually the result of local
initiatives.
     Thousands of school age children do not attend school
because they are indispensable labourers in the fields and
pastures. School age girls are even worse off than the boys.
Hardly any girls go to school. There are different reasons for
this: they do more housework than the boys, they must care for
the younger siblings, and they are much more needed in their
work.
     In 1975, 70% of the total population of Iranian Kurdistan
was illiterate, as were more than 80% of the women. In rural
areas, around 95% of women were illiterate! Will there be any
improvements in this under the Islamic Republic in Iran?

Relations Between Women And Men

     Whereas in Iraqi and Turkish Kurdistan, men are almost
completely separated from women because of the division of
labour, things are a bit different in Iranian Kurdistan. In
comparison, there is more of a shared life between the two
genders. In the fields, for example, men and women work together,
and for poor families there are no separate living conditions,
and the separate seating arrangements (men sitting on one side,
women on the other), which replaces separate living quarters in
some other poor areas is also not found here because men and
women sit together. Even weddings are celebrated together. There
are even dances where men and women dance together, unthinkable
in a purely Islamic country. And yet, joint forms of living are
only found in the countryside among the poorer classes. This is
one example of the influence of tribalism. Feudalistic families
and families in the city practice strict gender separation.
     But these positive elements of tribal remnants on the one
hand and the seeds of future relations between men and women on
the other cannot hide the fact that women, no matter what, are
subordinate to men. They are more burdened by housework and
working in the fields. Men can relax for a while after working,
but the women always have household tasks to attend to. During
the day, women raise the children, clean the house, and work the
fields, at night they are sex objects to be utilized at will.
Even if Kurdish women are able to strengthen their position
somewhat because of their indispensable labour (for example, they
are more self- conscious and less likely to be abandoned than
women in purely Islamic societies), then men still have all the
authority and make all the decisions.
     The women often lack deep emotional ties to the men. This is
replaced by a strong solidarity among the women themselves. The
women tell each other everything that happens. They speak of
their difficulties. This provides emotional support so that they
don't have to stand alone if, for example, they are having
problems with their husband. Visitors often note how Kurdish
women have warm and sincere relationships among themselves and
they aren't, for example, shy about seeing one another while
bathing. They have a natural and positive relationship to their
bodies. The society of women offers protection, support, and
security!

Legal Status And Social Values

     Kurdish women often face a three-fold oppression: the
oppression which they suffer because of their economic position,
their national oppression, which they suffer together with the
men, and their oppression as women.
     Today in the Islamic Republic, the Koran is the foundation
for regulating social life. Social values and norms, according to
which the lives of neighbours in villages and of families are
judged, largely come from Islam, although a civil law code does
exist. It cannot be ignored, for example, that the 1967 "Family
Protection Law" oriented itself to Islamic values. But women were
granted some possibilities, such as the right to divorce, even
though in practice this is very difficult, largely for economic
reasons.
     Today, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, society is based on
the 1400-year-old laws of the Koran. There are many discussions
about the status of women in Islam. We don't wish to repeat these
here, but we would like to point out the different values which
Islam encompasses. There are primarily two pairs of ideas: 

1. Sin and merit (the teachings of the Prophets)
2. Honour and shame

Honour is the highest value. In official language, honour
('namus') means "having a good name". In practice, the woman is
the embodiment of the man's good name. If a woman is unfaithful
to her man, he loses his good name, and this must be rectified:
he is allowed to kill his wife. In colloquial speech, the word
'namus' means genitals. The man, so to speak, loses his genitals
when his wife is unfaithful. The woman is degraded to the mere
status of sex object.
     Islam places great emphasis on obedience to authorities.
Patriarchal structures are the ideological supports for the
existing power relations, both in the family and in society as a
whole. Arrangements according to these values and norms naturally
lead to a decrease in the status of women.

Conclusions

     The indispensable work which Kurdish women perform gives
them a relatively (!) stronger position in comparison to Persian
and Arab women. There are historical reasons for this. Whereas
it's true that Islam provides the foundation for the values and
norms of most of the population, the Kurds were able to resist
much of the forced Arabization which they were subjected to after
the 7th century, and still today they have remnants of their old
forms of religion (Christianity, Ahli-haq, etc.). This early
rejection of Islam may explain why Kurdish folklore, proverbs,
and fables have somewhat matriarchal themes. Here we find women
in equal or superior positions to men. Such proverbs like "A lion
is a lion, whether female or male" and "He who does not fear his
wife is not a man" are good examples of this.
     But just how little of this remains today can be seen in the
statements from groups which see themselves as progressive. Some
organizations just ignore half of the population. One spokesman
even claimed that the primary force in the present struggle are
the men and that the women are even further removed now because
of their culture and traditions. They don't see it as their task
to work to gain the participation of women in the struggle.
Another organization has reduced the role of women's groups to
simply handing out leaflets and uses men's activities as the
measure of women's abilities: "We think that women can do the
same activities as men in those areas where they are equally
capable as men." If we are to believe the representative of one
Kurdish women's organization, the most significant political
organizations don't place much emphasis on the women's question.
But this does not mean that they aren't interested in
cooperation.
     Today, many women are active in political organizations and
they feel that an independent women's organization is necessary.
     Those of us in Europe should ask ourselves what we can do to
support Kurdish women, not just feel pity for them, which is of
no use to anyone. That doesn't mean that we want to drive men and
women apart in the movement against the terrorist regime in
Teheran. But women, because of their specific situation, need
their own organizations so that they can work out and solve the
problems which they face. Experience has shown that they will get
little help from men in this process.
     This article, however, should be seen as a step in that
direction.

(Translated from 'Frau, steh auf!' by the Kurdistan Committee of
Canada)