Kurdish Women Union

Constitution

1. Name:The name of the association shall be Kurdish Women Union – UK.

2. The Kurdish Women Union – UK will offer help and support to Kurdish women newly arriving to the UK.

3. The objective of the Kurdish Women Union are

a. keep an up to date registry of all Kurdish women living in the UK
b. provide support to women bodies in all parts of Kurdistan when links with Kurdish women organisations
c. put in place a strategy to provide assistance to women in any part of Kurdistan when needed
d. co-operate and work with other organisations, universities, bodies and charities to promote issues of women rights in all Kurdistan
e. raise the cultural standards and social status of the Kurdish women in all parts of Kurdistan
f. establish links with other Kurdish women organisations in other countries
g. establish links with all women organisations and bodies in the UK

4. The officials language of communication of Kurdish Women Union will be Kurdish and English.

5. Kurdish Women Union is not a political body and will not have any affiliation to any of the Kurdish political parties working in exile or in Kurdistan. Its main purpose is to serve the women of Kurdistan and bring them together under one umbrella. However, Kurdish Women Union will liase to provide its medical services to any of the parties when needed. Kurdish Women Union will operate under the auspices of Kurdistan National Congress (KNC). The Executive committee will undertake to obtain a charity status for the association

6. Membership

Kurdish Women Union shall admit to membership all Kurdish women. It also welcomes as honorary members non-Kurdish women who sympathise with the Kurdish cause.
All applications for membership shall be considered by the Executive committee who shall decide whether to accept each application.
Memberships will be free for the first two years. Thereafter for those in paid posts a membership fee of £15 per year will be charged.

7. Structure

Members shall meet once a year, date and place of which will be decided at least 3 months in advance by the Executive committee. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) shall
a. elect the officers
b. elect the executive committee every 2 years and appoint other committees as deemed necessary
c. determine the overall policy and direction of the association for the following year
The Executive committee, in the preliminary stage of the organisation of Kurdish Women Union will consist of a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, liaison officer and two other members all of whom will be elected at the first AGM.
The Executive committee may in due caurse increase the number of its officers and appoint other members (eg accountant etc).
d. Term of office of the Executive committee will be two years in the first instance. Amendments to this may be made in the first AGM.
At the AGM and executive committee meetings
a. only members of Kurdish Women Union – UK have the right to vote.
b. every member shall have one vote including the chairman and in case of equality of votes the chairman shall have a second casting vote.

8. Changes to the constitution

This constitution maybe altered, repealed or added to by a resolution passed by three fourth of the members of Kurdish Women Union – UK who are present in person or by proxy at the special general meeting convened for that purpose after no less than 4 weeks notice had been given to all members of Kurdish Women Union.

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Great kurdish women from history
Hapsa Xan ( 1881 – 1953 )
Hapsa Khan was born in Slêmanî to a prominent family in 1881. She later married into a revolutionary family to Shaikh Qadir, brother of Shaikh Mahmud. She is believed to have been …the first woman in Silêmanî to stress the importance of education for women as a means to gain freedom. She was active during Shaikh Mahmud’s autonomous government in the early 1920’s and was a supporter of the nationalistic cause. She established what is considered the first Kurdish women’s organization in Kurdistan. She pursued an agenda for the progression of Kurdish women, especially in gaining access to literacy and education. In the book Kurdistan in the Shadow of History, a German photographer named Lotte Errell describes Hapsa Khan as the woman “whose husband gets up when she enters the room.” She founded an evening school for women in the region and Errell describes it as thus: “Every afternoon she received in her courtyard all the women who wanted to learn by her wisdom and who wanted to discuss the problems of the day with her.” Hapsa Khan’s father used his house as a place for intellectuals in the community to gather and discuss different topics. After her father’s death, Hapsa Khan turned the family house into a public meeting place and became the leading figure at home. Her visitors ranged from writers to artists, to men of high rank. In an interview with Shaikh Mahmud’s niece, Drakshan Jalal Ahmad, published in Kurdistan in the Shadow of History, she mentions that Hapsa Khan said, “There is no difference between men and women…so I am going to continue…” Drakshan further explains that Hapsa Khan’s boldness was met with some contempt: “Some people were angered from a religious point of view that she was imitating a man, but she did not stop.” “Shaikh Mahmud himself said that if she had been a man, she would have been a strong challenge.” It’s evident that she possessed a strong character and was adamant in continuing what she believed in. After her death in 1953, her home, as she had intended, became a school.