Dear ACD,

Thank you for your message. Kindly find below the addendum on the assessment you have requested: It covers most important and relevant issues and concerns which are gender related after the emergency.

Looking forward to talking to you,

Regards,

Jeannette

Changes in gender roles and household decision making after the emergency

Gender Roles: Within the home, Iraqi men/boys and women/girls generally have gender specific roles. More than 40% of Iraqi men report that they do not have household chores at all. Men are primarily responsible for providing for and protecting their families although high youth unemployment rates make this challenging for younger men. Just under half of Iraqi girls report feeling that they are treated equally to their brothers. Although the overall Iraqi population comprises more males than females, there are significantly older women than older men. An estimated 9 percent of the country’s women (900,000) are widows. Older women have specific vulnerabilities especially if they are also female headed households. Therefore, it is obvious that both negative and positive changes happened after the emergency and during the displacement. As the living conditions change, women and girls living in accommodation centers and or public shelters are obliged to take more responsibilities than before due to having lost their partner/husband or brothers. Men are not feeling safe to play their roles in public and shared spaces. The traditional gender roles and responsibilities assigned to men and women has also shifted after the displacement.

Social norms prevent women from living without men, leaving female headed households particularly at risk of violence. Polygamous households are relatively common (12.3%); more common amongst older age groups and in rural areas. In previous times of insecurity, “Gender Role Swaps” have been documented when men were unable to leave the home resulting in women and boys going out to provide for the family.

The positive changes include: the integration of women in the society, increase in the number of staff in schools, hospitals, improved security situation due to the existence police units and social affairs personnel.

In contrary to before the displacement women now share expenses with men. After the displacement, women positions are developed due to educational trainings, such as (nursing, hairdressing, sewing, knitting…) which paved the way for more jobs for women than the men. Women can work outside of the house and bring an income to the family in contrast to previous times before the displacement.

It is also evident that family decisions are now participatory and are taken with the consultation among man and woman, especially decisions related to work and financial situation.

Protection and Gender based violence

Women, men, girls and boys who have been displaced by the crisis have been exposed to protection risks en route including risks of exploitation, GBV and execution. Even after families have arrived in camps or collective shelters, protection risks can continue with depression, lack of economic resources and family separation leaving individuals exposed to exploitation.

In all, 8.5 million people are in need of access to health services, including 43% of women [2]. Women, adolescent girls, pregnant woman lack access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services, while the number of reported Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases has increased.

Women and men have reported high levels of psychological trauma related to the conflict and to displacement. In addition, qualitative research highlighted child labour, physical violence against children and intimate partner violence. Social norms appear to discourage women from living without men, leaving female-headed households particularly at risk of violence. An estimated 9% of the country’s women are widows and older women have specific vulnerabilities especially if they are also female-headed households.

In total, 90% of respondents surveyed by CARE (2015) in Kirkuk mentioned there were no separate rooms for female and male IDPs in their accommodation. Compared to those IDPs’ and host families’ situation before the displacement occurred, this situation is very unusual and could contribute to exacerbate tensions and risks of GBV.

Shelter:

IDP communities in Kirkuk are living in unfinished and semi destroyed buildings where 70% of respondents mentioned the fact that that families had to share a room in their buildings with a variety of others, including polygamous families, extended family, neighbors, and even strangers. This over populated living situation in return might enhances the chances of levitating protection issues for women and children.

It was also the finding of this data that there is no separate rooms for female and male IDPs existent in this living arrangements. In addition, 81% women responded that the shelters are a bad protection against cold and wind as well as 50% mentioning unhygienic living situation.

WASH:

A 2015 multi-agency KAP survey (NRC, WV, and Save the Children) found that water collection responsibility was found to be held mainly by males in 54% of households, including in Kirkuk. In total, over 85% of households reported the distance to the main water source as ‘less than 100 metre’ overall from their location, though 88% of households reported that water was inconsistently available and 64% reported feelings of insecurity when collecting water. The same survey found that, while latrine access was common, only 1% of surveyed households felt that the latrines were adapted for the needs of disabled, people elderly men and women, and/or pregnant women. While there is considerable KAP information available through the clusters and agencies providing WASH services, the information available still needs to be disaggregated and analyzed by gender.

More than 90% of IDPs live with other IDP families in an overcrowded buildings where there is the availability of some safe water however, not in sufficient quantities water being only availably on average for 5 hours per day.

59% of women raised that they do not have enough toilets as well as 65% for bathing. The increased accumulation of garbage in public places raised the increase in rodents and flies that increased the disease rate specifically skin diseases for women in 57%, diarrhea 27%