Iraq’s leaders have signed the interim constitution. Yes, it contains a quota, or the legal “aim” of a quota, whatever that means:
The National Assembly shall be elected in accordance with an electoral law and a political parties law. The electoral law shall aim to achieve the goal of having women constitute no less than one-quarter of the members of the National Assembly and of having fair representation for all communities in Iraq, including the Turcomans, ChaldoAssyrians, and others.
Chapter 4, Article 30 (c)
Interestingly, by my count our own U.S. Senate only has 14% females (and no African-Americans), which wouldn’t cut it under this provision. Time for senatorial affirmative action.
UPDATE: Say Uncle points out another constitutional goodie:
The individual has the right to security, education, health care, and social security. The Iraqi State and its governmental units, including the federal government, the regions, governorates, municipalities, and local administrations, within the limits of their resources and with due regard to other vital needs, shall strive to provide prosperity and employment opportunities to the people.
Chapter 2, Article 14
Perhaps we should be importing “democracy trainers” from Iraq!
this heres jes the kind of obsurvayshun i cum here fer.
Good catch.
As by the title and intent, this is only an interim constitution and you can tell by the wording parts of it seem to be guidelines and goals, not just laws and rules. I wouldn’t worry about this too much – now, when the full constitution is written next year if it includes similar language, then there may be cause for concern.
What would be the cause for concern? That women and minorities should be better represented in the Iraqi government than they are in the U.S. government? I don’t get it.
I can see a problem making it a law to have a certain percentage of the congress be female. We’re not talking about college admissions, here.
It’s great to encourage and facilitate diverse representation, just don’t mandate it. What if it at a later date the constitution were amended to require the legislation be composed of 60% Sunni’s and 40% Shia? One person’s oppressed minority is another’s minority to oppress.