Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
A group of female activists in an Iraqi region which saw some of IS’s worst atrocities launched a magazine on International Women’s Day to show “it is normal for women to not cover”.
The first edition of the Women of Nineveh magazine was launched yesterday and is based in the Nineveh Plains region of Iraq. The magazine was made a reality by the Peace and Freedom Organisation (PFO), an Iraqi NGO that works to improve ties between the different ethnic and religious groups of northern Iraq, with the whole project being financially supported by Dutch NGO Pax.
One of the magazine’s founders Rasha Wahab, who is PFO’s Gender Adviser, told reporters: “They [IS] taught people that no one can see a woman without a cover, through this magazine, people can see it is normal for women to not cover.”
The Nineveh governorate was the site of some of the terrorist group’s worst atrocities, as well as the fiercest fighting to uproot the so-called “caliphate”.
One of the project’s major goals is to dispel misinformation, rumours, and tension about the region’s various religious sects that have proliferated post-IS in the region.
Wahab told local media that women in Nineveh lack access to and representation in the media, they have no platform where they can discuss their issues, adding: “We have no independent media in Iraq, especially in Nineveh.
“Women in villages can’t talk about their problems, some are uneducated, or can’t read or write. Most are poor. Many are unaware of their legal rights. They don’t talk (to each other), so they have incorrect ideas about each other.”
Activists and journalists from across the region’s different sects – including Yazidis, Christians, Shabaks, Shias, and Sunnis – attended a training session held in the Kurdish capital Erbil and wrote articles for the magazine’s first edition.
The magazine will be published monthly and has volunteers who will distribute it throughout the region.
The first issue addresses diverse social topics such as the effects video games have on children while another piece included basic information on the coronavirus.
This year’s International Women’s Day was held yesterday (Sunday) and the official theme was, I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights.
The international holiday was marked by thousands of women and allies gathering in cities across the world to protest for women’s rights and protection against violence.
Demonstrations were seen in over a dozen countries, from Pakistan to Argentina.
The rallies in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan were met with violence while marchers in Turkey and Chile were confronted by police.
Google released a doodle for International Women’s Day celebrating the achievements of women from all geographic and generational backgrounds.
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