Women delegates weigh in on Syria’s national dialogue conference
Syrian women who participated in this week’s national dialogue conference in Damascus reflect on the event, its outcomes and women’s participation.
Syrian women who participated in this week’s national dialogue conference in Damascus reflect on the event, its outcomes and women’s participation.
Damascus residents speak with a new tone, using new words, as entrenched fears unravel with the fall of the Assad regime. Still, concerns remain about what awaits in a new Syria.
Economic empowerment initiatives are crucial for women returning to Raqqa from the al-Hol detention camp to integrate into their communities. However, funding for small businesses is scarce and underprioritized.
Property loss is among the most prominent repercussions of Syria’s 13-year conflict. Women are particularly affected, and face additional challenges to regaining their rights.
Digital violence is rampant in northwestern Syria, where women are particularly vulnerable to online blackmail and harassment by scammers, with little legal or social support.
Women in Hasakah city face harassment and exploitation by NGO-contracted water providers and private sellers who take advantage of their need for water.
While some humanitarian organizations target informal displacement camps where 150,000 people have languished for years in Syria’s northern Raqqa province, the response falls short of what is needed, particularly for widows.
Women are notably absent from efforts by independent political formations to gain a foothold in opposition-held northwestern Syria, an area dominated by armed factions.
Finding few other options, many women and girls in the Deir e-Zor countryside spend their days in the fields as hourly farmworkers, facing difficult conditions for meager pay.
Women’s participation in institutions governing northwestern Syria is “virtually nonexistent,” even though there are no legal prohibitions on them holding positions in either Salvation Government or Syrian Interim Government bodies.