Shafaq News-Baghdad
Iraq'sconstitution reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for women, but when itcomes to cabinet, there is no such guarantee, and in the country's newly formedgovernment, the bargaining produced one.
Sarwa Abulwahid,assigned the Environment portfolio, is the sole woman in the cabinet of PrimeMinister Ali al-Zaidi, down from three female ministers in the previousadministration. The reduction reflects a structural gap in Iraqi law that hasshaped every government formed since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Iraq'sconstitution enshrines principles of equality, non-discrimination, and equalopportunity, but contains no binding provision requiring female representationat the ministerial level. Legal expert Mohammed Juma told Shafaq News thatwhile those constitutional principles "require that female representationbe taken into account when forming governments," the absence of anenforceable quota leaves the matter entirely subject to political negotiationand party selection.
The result,across more than two decades of post-2003 governance, has been inconsistency. Women have held portfolios spanning health, environment, human rights, finance,communications, and migration, butalways at the discretion of coalition arithmetic, never by legal requirement.
The previousadministration of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, formed in October 2022, recorded thehighest female ministerial presence since 2003, with three women incabinet-level roles: Taif Sami Mohammed as Finance Minister, Hiyam Aboudal-Yasiri as Communications Minister, and Evan Faeq Gabro as Minister ofMigration and Displacement. The al-Zaidi government represents a sharpreversal.
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Nesreen Barwaribecame the first woman to hold a ministerial post after 2003, serving asMinister of Municipalities and Public Works from 2003 to 2006. Others followedacross successive administrations —in human rights, labor, education, science,and women's affairs— but representation never stabilized into expectation.
Member ofParliament Inaam Alaa Al-Din, of the State of Law Coalition, told Shafaq Newsthat female representation in government had not reached the required level,particularly for women from central and southern Iraq. She stopped short ofcalling the current outcome discriminatory. "It is not yet possible to speakof clear discrimination against women," she said, while arguing thatgenuine political participation requires "conditions that allow genuinecompetition and equal access to senior offices."
The currentcount may not be final as Iraq's Council of Representatives this week approved14 ministerial nominees by absolute majority but rejected candidates for nineportfolios —including Planning, Culture, Higher Education, and Interior. Thosepositions remain vacant, and appointments to fill them could yet include additionalwomen.
The broaderpicture, however, points to a ceiling that quotas have not reached. Iraq'sparliament, under its constitutional 25% threshold, currently seats 82 womenamong its 329 members. The cabinet, formed through negotiation among politicalblocs, has produced one.
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