Noted Improvement in New York Times Coverage of Iraqi Women's Rights (2005)

Thank you for writing to the New York Times for more coverage of Iraqi women’s rights! We’ve seen an improvement of their coverage!

Before, the Times had written only one major article on women’s rights in the constitution. More than 547 emails were sent to the paper, and we have seen their message of covering "Iraqi women’s work to advocate for their rights" reflected in the newspaper’s recent coverage.

On August 8, the New York Times published a 1,285 word piece by James Glanz entitled "Some Fear Iraq's Charter Will Erode Women's Rights." Some excerpts:

"The constitution’s proposed restrictions of women’s rights is] really a huge setback," said Shirouk al-Abayachi, project manager of the Iraqi Women's Network, an umbrella organization of more than 80 women's groups that was founded in 2003.

"In a state of going forward," she said, referring to Iraq's budding democracy, "we are going backward."

The issue has prompted a series of recent protests and news conferences by the women's groups, including a meeting last Tuesday attended by the American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Additionally, on this past Friday, the New York Times editorialized on the Iraq constitution, saying:

…proposals for religiously inspired changes in family law have left millions of Iraqi women fearing that they are about to become second-class citizens.

The new constitution should clearly uphold the human and civil rights of all Iraqis, without regard to religion, ethnicity or gender, and guarantee access for all to the civil legal system and courts.

Thanks to your help, we know that as the draft Iraqi constitution is handed down this week, the issues impacting women will be on the radar of one of the most influential papers in the nation!