The history of Kurdish women is largely unknown

The history of Kurdish women is largely unknown — not because people don’t want to know about Kurdish women, but because they don’t know where to learn about Kurdish women. It’s hard to know about women from an ethnic background when their history has not been fully documented. Consequently, many precious elements of Kurdish heritage are unknown, and lost. As a young Kurdish girl living in England, and brought up in England, I have found it fairly easy to learn about British women, and their history. However, the other part of me which is Kurdish is almost unfamiliar because books about the history of Kurds are focused on their geographic location, and struggles towards self-determination.

In an attempt to find out more about Kurdish women, I need not go further than my own mother. She has outlived many wars, conflicts and loosing her son in the Iraq-Kuwait war of 1990. Why look further than a wonderful mother that has raised 3 children, brought up amidst poverty, political activism and a self-proclaimed ‘traditional’ feminist. I suppose I’m more of a kick-ass feminist than my own mother, given that she is a ‘retired’ feminist.

My mother was born in 1962 in Erbil (Arbil), and is the eldest of her siblings. She grew up amongst 7 siblings, and got married to my dad at the age of 17. He was a recent graduate from the University of Baghdad, and a supporter of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. My mother soon stopped going to college after getting married because it was increasingly hard for her, and understandably so.

Looking back at the 30 years that my father contributed, supported and represented the Kurdish Patriotic Union, my mother was alongside him. As an avid supporter, councilor, and motivator, but amongst the new-wave of Politicians, little is known about my mother. My mother’s life is one too familiar for the women of her generation.

Feminism was not a central issue during her time, she tells me. ‘Women were interested in raising a family and little concerned with their role in society’. If we compare my mother’s experiences to contemporary standard of living amongst Kurdish women, we will find that more women are concerned with their role in society, and representation. Increasingly, they want their voices to be heard through media outlets, internet forums, twitter, blogging and etc.

‘Feminism was not unheard of, but women didn’t mobilise in large groups, or protest for more rights’ she said, again to draw a comparison, as a British-Kurdish feminist, I have found in my recent visits to Kurdistan, women are more eager to work towards better rights, and proportionate political representation within the governmental sector. I asked my mother about the lack of feminist literature amongst Kurdish women, and she said ‘We merely facilitated the opportunities to our daughters and sons, a new generation, one that would be eager to speak, and brave enough to not be silenced’.

My mother instilled within me the idea of equality, justice and equal treatment. Although she has had her fair share of influence from the patriarchal society that she was raised in, but that didn’t stop me from seeing beyond and above that. She is one of the many unheard and unknown mothers in Kurdistan