2006年VOA标准英语-Iraqi Women Seek Greater Rights

By Margaret Besheer
Washington
20 January 2006

 
Two women cast their votes at a polling station in Iraq on Decemeber 15, 2005 
  
As final results of January's election for a four-year parliament are announced in Iraq, women there are calling for a larger voice in their country's future.  Women make up more than half the country's population and say their role in its rebuilding cannot be ignored.  They are seeking constitutional guarantees of their political, economic and social rights.

------------------------------------------

Iraqi women enjoy broader rights than many of their sisters elsewhere in the Arab world, but they want to expand and develop those rights further.

Under the new Iraqi constitution, ratified¹ in October, women are guaranteed a quarter of parliament's 275-seats.  But Zakia Hakki, who was the first female judge in Iraq, says political negotiations³ over forming the new government are a prime example of how women have yet to be fully⁴ integrated into the political process.

"There is very, very important negotiation² and dialogue inside Iraq by the leaders of all the political groups. But there is not a single woman with them," Hakki said.

Lawyer and former interim⁵ Environment Minister Mishkat al-Mounir says excluding women from the political process is a mistake.

"If we start our process by excluding women from the process of decision making, then we will end up excluding other social groups. We will end up having another dictatorship," she noted⁶.

Iraqi women's rights advocate Hanaa Edwar says women suffered as much as men under Saddam Hussein's regime, and they have earned the right to equal participation⁷ in the political process.

"We have the equality. Equality in imprisonment⁸, equality in executions, equality in displacement⁹, equality in such a bloody¹⁰, bloody and miserable¹¹ life that we have shared with our brothers," said Ms. Edwar.

Edwar and the other women were in Washington Thursday to discuss their hope of amending¹² the constitution to expand and guarantee women's rights.

Mishkat al-Mounir says it is very important to have one set of laws that apply to all Iraqis, regardless of their religious or ethnic¹³ background. She explains that since 1959, women's rights have been granted under the country's personal status code.

"It was issued before Saddam Hussein's time," she added.  "It was driven from Sharia law. It is not in contradiction with Islam. It was drafted by collecting and gathering¹⁴ the best opinions from all Muslim scholars and Muslim schools in favor of women."

The women support the 1959 law, which they say protects both the rights of women and the family, especially in marriages where one partner is Sunni Muslim and the other is Shi'ite. These sects¹⁵ can interpret family law differently, whereas the 1959 code applies a single standard.

But one of the articles in the new constitution is troubling to women's rights advocates.  That article states that no law can be passed that contradicts the "undisputed" rules of Islam. They fear clerics could narrowly interpret this language and limit women's rights, particularly with respect to marriage, divorce and inheritance.

Al-Mounir says the women's movement hopes to abolish that article and come up with a constitutional amendment¹⁶.

"If we could not achieve that, we will try to adopt the personal status code issued in 1959 to the federal level," she explained.  "As you are all aware, Iraq is now a federal state. So we would like to adopt that law to the federal level so we will have a unified¹⁷ code that will be applied¹⁸ all over Iraq."

The women say Iraq cannot be rebuilt using only steel and cement, it needs a new mentality¹⁹, one that is open to the participation of women at all levels and guarantees them social, political and economic equality.

1 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

2 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

3 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

8 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

9 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

10 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

11 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

12 amending   

改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Amending acts in 1933,1934, and 1935 attempted to help honest debtors rehabilitate themselves. 一九三三年，一九三四年和一九三五年通过的修正案是为了帮助诚实的债务人恢复自己的地位。
• Two ways were used about the error-amending of contour curve. 采用两种方法对凸轮轮廓曲线进行了修正。

13 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

14 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

15 sects   

n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别，刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句

16 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

17 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

18 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

19 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。