history

In ancient times we have been leaders, rulers, mothers,goodesses and warriors. The Kurdish women has a very old history in beeing independent and selfresponsible.
They always played their part in History and in times were
the so called women of the nower "civilized" world still lived in dumb darkness the kurdish women was a ruler over an empire.

One of the oldest ancestors of kurdish heritage, the Qutils
had women who ruled the armys and made the major decisions.

The Greco-Roman Historian Plutarch reports local people in northern and western Kurdistan fiercely defending their
home from the invading Roman troops, on the 1st century BC. Among these native forces he emphacises the existence of fighting "AMAZON" women. Women under arm, anathema to the Greeks and Romans, always evoked for them the legend of the Amazons, wich incidentally, had their homeland in this same general geographical area.
Until now this legend survived and gives never ending material to fairytales, films, series(like Xena) and myths.

Plutarch also reports a female consort of the Kurdish Pontian king Mithirdates who, dressed in traditional colorful Kurdish dress defended the Pontian state against the Romans.At his site there had always been Hypsicrateia, a girl who had always shown the spirit of a man and always been ready to take any risk.
For this reason the king used to give her the masculin name of "Hypsicrates".

Bu the evidence of the military prowess of the women in Kurdistan is however much older than written records.
At the 12000 year old cemeteries at Shanidar in central Kurdistan,Zagros moutains, (famous for its Neandertal remains) the only adornments found buried most female skeletons were well ornamented knives.

The Zand dynasty (AD 1750-1794) the last major Kurdish dynasy of the Midddle East, employed women extensively in its military campaigns for the throne of Persia. Even the founder of the dynasty, Muhammad Karim Khan, fully adhered to this ancient Kurdish custom. He and his soldiers
enjoyed the military support of their brides, who fought alongside them as they routed invading Afghan forces. The Afghan officers ridiculed the Zands for this, accusing them of "hiding behind heir women's skirts"

The participation of women in the military continues today
in Kurdistan, as nearly all kurdish political parties (exept the fudamental Islamic parties) who command a fighting Peshmerga guerilla group include women in their ranks.
>Peshmerga Women