The Iraq Government’s initiative to empower women in business and help widowed Iraqi women
With a mandate to help the Member States and the Iraq government’s system to advance more effectively and efficiently toward the objectives of attaining gender equality and the empowerment of Iraqi women, UN Women was founded by the General Assembly.
As it strives to fulfill its goal and one of which is towards the women in business in Iraq, providing help for all tech-women in the country. The CIA encounters a rare circumstance. The estimated 39 million-strong population of Iraq has faced increasing hardships since 2003 as a result of conflict and violence.
According to the 2005 Constitution, which is regarded as the biggest victory for Iraqi women, there is a 25% quota for women in parliament. The government agency responsible for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, was abolished in 2015, which caused the GEWE file to get dispersed among several government agencies.
The need for UN Women to continue supporting Iraq was made clear by this circumstance, which also emphasizes the significance of the fight for gender equality and women empowerment. This is especially true given that efforts are being made to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with gender equality serving as a key component to achieving each of these goals.
The Iraqi government collaborates with the Federal Government, the Kurdistan Region Government, and other partners to advance the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda to ensure women’s full and equal representation and participation in peace processes and security efforts, as well as to ensure that women and girls are not oppressed.
For the Iraqi government, tackling gender-based violence and advancing gender equality depends on the economic empowerment of women and so works on helping women in business. And one such woman who benefited from the Iraq government is Saja al-Bayati.
Since she can remember, she has always found the news and information technology fascinating. She began a journey that would combine her two passions into a business endeavor while pursuing a master’s degree in computer engineering. She combined her tech and cyber-security interests with a burgeoning freelance journalism career to start digital awareness campaigns.
The Baghdad native, age 29, now heads a team of security experts that protects individuals and businesses from cyberattacks. She promises to promote knowledge of how to safeguard private information and assist in preventing hackers from targeting people and organisations.
In October 2022, Ms. Al-Bayati registered Al-Baydaq (Pawn) Information Technology with the government, and she discovered the procedure to be considerably simpler than she had anticipated thanks to a new online registration platform.
With help from UNCTAD, the US government, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network, a nonprofit organization, the Iraqi government launched business.mot.gov.iq on November 8, 2021, a web-based “single window” for business registration. The portal streamlines a procedure that formerly required 35 stages and many hours of standing in line at several government locations. In just a few clicks and minutes, Ms. Al-Bayati was able to register her business.
To facilitate commercial transactions around the nation, the Iraqi government invested in the platform, which has already been utilized by nearly 3,000 entrepreneurs to register their businesses. The portal has demonstrated how a reliable one-stop center for business registration may support women’s aspirations for entrepreneurship. More than 150 female business owners have experienced something akin to what Ms. Al-Bayati has.
Sanaa Abdel Rahim Shakeel used the portal to formalize her clothing import company, Qobat Al Iraq () General Trading Limited Liability; Asmaa Hussain Mohammed registered Twilight Brightness (), printing, marketing, events, and logistics company; Baida Imran Musa registered Al Hayat (), an airfield and ground services company.
Since the portal’s debut, 7% of those registering their businesses through it have been women. The share will increase as more people become aware of the single window, predicts Jonathan Ortmans, president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network.
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