Gender and National Apartheid

This image displays the burial site of members of the PDKI who lost their lives in missile attacks carried out by the Iranian regime. Over the last five years, the Iranian regime has launched multiple assaults with drones and ballistic missiles on the compounds of East Kurdistan’s political parties in exile in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Female Peshmerga fighters from the PDKI undergo military and physical training. Some of these women actively participated in the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi uprisings. However, due to their involvement, they were forced to leave their homeland and join the political parties of East Kurdistan, which have bases in the mountainous areas of South Kurdistan.

A group of female Peshmerga fighters from CPI-Komala having a break after an extensive training session. One of them expresses, “To be in the movement, one must maintain a constant state of movement”.

A PAK female Peshmerga fighter carries a container of water and a small vessel of petrol (naft) to cook and illuminate their base.

Sarina (right, age 16) and Kamand (age 18) joined the PDKI’s Youth Union (for members under 18) in 2021. Sarina says, “Our land has been occupied, and we fight for its liberation. It is our job as young women to change the mindset of our society”. Kamand adds, “Before joining the KDPI, I lived under an unjust system. Iran’s Islamic regime regards women as servants. I aspire to achieve equality, rights, and respect for myself and others. I appeal to the entire world to bestow support to the Kurdish people, and I urge my fellow Kurdish people to unite for change”.

Serwa Nasri, a member of the CPI-Komala executive committee, has been affiliated with the party since she was young. She expresses her motivation for joining Komala as “advocating for our rights and creating a better society with a more promising future”.

The image shows a dance performance (halperke) of a group of PDKI female Peshmerga fighters near one of their encampments in the mountainous region between East and South Kurdistan. Dance manifests as a practice of resistance, embodying the call for gender equality and the rights of their nation. While many of these women experienced the Iranian regime’s brutality during the Jina, Jiyan, Azadi uprisings, they now, as Peshmerga fighters, face missile and rocket attacks by the same regime.

Renas (age 30) from Bijar, joined the Peshmerga forces of Khabat in 2020. She explains, “To be part of the struggle for the liberation of my occupied homeland is the primary reason for me joining the Kurdish movement. I dream that we can proudly raise our Kurdish flag in a free Kurdistan.”

According to women who joined Komala after the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi uprisings, “The escalating repression and state violence that have occurred following the uprisings prove that the notion of security and living a peaceful life has completely vanished in Kurdistan. As women and active participants in the uprisings after the regime regained control of the situation, there were no safe places available to us, as the fear of being kidnapped, arrested and raped by regime forces became an overwhelming aspect of our daily lives”.

he female Peshmerga fighters from PAK undergo intense daily educational, physical, and military training. The camp’s training leader states, “A liberated Kurdistan requires a well-trained and prepared army”.

A group of female PDKI Peshmerga fighters are having sandwiches and warming themselves after a long day of training. Hediya (age 25) says, “Under the regime that has occupied my land, any expression of Kurdish identity is subject to punishment. The term Kurd and any discussions about Kurdish identity are criminalized. After attending university, I became acutely aware of the linguicide, and cultural genocide inflicted upon the Kurdish people.”

Two female Peshmerga fighters from CPI-Komala study at one of their locations in South Kurdistan. “Reading is a crucial component of our daily routine. Imagine our library as a brain-training laboratory”.

A female member of Komala in one of their bases in the mountains between East and South Kurdistan, on the Iraqi side of the border.

This photo shows a group of PDKI female Peshmerga fighters based in Iraqi Kurdistan. Each of these women has faced discrimination and tyranny, forcing them to leave their loved ones, families, and homeland.

Hawre (age 55) is from Bukan and joined the PDKI Democratic Youth Union in the summer of 1983. She states, “Later, I attended the PDKI medical facility and enrolled in a Doctors Without Borders nursing and midwifery program. Over the last 36 years, I have served as a medic for the Peshmerga, the families associated with the KDPI, and the local community near our medical center”.

Female Peshmerga fighters from CPI-Komala play volleyball. “The goal of ensuring women’s rights, to be themselves, and pursue their desires and dreams drove us to join Komala”.

Two female PDKI Peshmerga fighters during physical training. Nadia claims, “Within the KDPI, women are respected equally and assigned roles according to their merit. Here, we are free to express our thoughts and offer criticism, as the party emphasizes the importance of the realization of women’s rights.”

Sahar, 18, is from Javanrud in Rojhelat – the unofficial name Kurds use for Iranian Kurdistan. She left on 28 April 2021 and has been a member of the exiled Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI), in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, for about two years. The KDPI, founded in 1945, seeks democracy and autonomy for Kurds in Iran, where minority Kurds have long been denied the right to self-determination. Women fight alongside men as part of the peshmerga, the PDKI’s military wing.

The female Peshmerga fighters of the PDKI are trained and prepared to defend themselves and advance the struggle for national and gender liberation in their homeland, Kurdistan.

Gule (age 60) from Piranshahr joined the PDKI Peshmerga forces in 1987. The Islamic Republic forces frequently apprehended Gule for her clandestine organisational efforts and the assistance she provided to the Peshmerga. Thirty-seven years ago (1987), she was compelled to leave Iran and join the Peshmerga. Gule emphasises that “our movement is committed to ensuring the freedom and prosperity of our nation”.

A cohort of PAK female Peshmerga fighters posing for a portrait, one says, “Our ranks are teeming with women, and our membership is steadily growing with each passing day”.

Beritan (age 31) from Urmia and joined the PDKI Peshmerga forces in 2023. She asserts, “To me, freedom entails the right to decide my identity, way of life, and desires. I fight for a world that allows equality and justice in the relationships between men and women and across communities”.

Suhayla Qaderi (right, age 46) and Nasrin Haddad (age 58), two female PDKI leaders, were martyred following an Iranian missile strike on PDKI bases on September 8, 2018. Suhayla had long been a champion for women's rights and served as secretary general within the KDPI Union of Democratic Women of East Kurdistan at the time of her martyrdom. Nasrin joined the KDPI Youth Union in 1982 and served as a teacher for the movement. On September 8, 2018, an IRGC missile attack killed Nasrin and her husband, Mohammad Hassanpour, at the meeting point of the PDKI’s Central Committee in Koy-Sanjaq, South Kurdistan.

This photo shows a group of PDKI female Peshmerga fighters based in Iraqi Kurdistan. Each of these women has faced discrimination and tyranny, forcing them to leave their loved ones, families, and homeland. After daily military training they return to their base on them mountains on the border of Iraq- Iran.

Paywand (18) stands in her barracks next to a portrait of Jina (Mahsa) Amini taped to the window. Paywand joined the PDKI five months ago after fleeing Iran to escape arrest for her participation in the "Jina Revolution" protests. She describes a crackdown where security forces used sexual assault threats and live ammunition to suppress the demonstrations.

26- In Bashiq, near Mosul (2016), the Peshmerga forces of the PAK were instrumental in defending the Kurdistan Region of Iraq against ISIS attacks. A female Peshmerga fighter from PAK operates a semi-heavy automatic weapon called a PKC.