Syrian women and nine years of the revolution: suffering, unemployment, illiteracy and exploitation
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
May, 2020
Within nine years of the Syrian crisis, the living conditions of various groups of Syrian citizens, men, women and children have deteriorated irreversibly. The repercussions that have befallen Syrian women were among the most tragic in the world, due to the appalling conditions that the Syrian women suffered over the past nine years, starting with the loss of their homes, husbands and children through displacement, forced immigration and violations committed by the various parties involved in the war.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has tried to identify the deteriorating conditions that Syrian women have suffered over the past nine years, to the extent of their conditions, considering the dispersal of the areas of control and their subordination to different parties of the war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights conducted a survey in the various areas of control, which revealed that Syrian women have been subjected to the most brutal types of violations that contradict human values and rights, international covenants and treaties related to war zones.
Regime-held areas: A continuous suffering
Despite the decline in hostilities in a large number of areas under regime control, the tragic conditions that Syrian women are subjected to have not witnessed the same decline, as Syrian women suffer continuously from neglect, poor conditions, unemployment and denial of personal and public rights. According to SOHR sources, the situation of working Syrian women in regime-held areas differs slightly in that educated women who have obtained permanent and stable jobs within the regime apparatus are paid well and sometimes their salaries range from 130 thousand Syrian pounds, to 38 thousand pounds. Also, salaries vary according to the job qualification of women in these regions. As a result of the war, a large proportion of girls were likely to drop out of schools, which made women in regime-held areas more vulnerable to ignorance, illiteracy, and unemployment.
Idlib and its countryside: A tragic situation
Women in Idlib and its countryside were subject to arrest and forced disappearance at the hands of regime, Turkish-backed jihadi factions, and Turkish forces. Despite the existence of some EU-backed organizations that embraced democratic ideas and provided some support and awareness programs for women, the region is still restricted and subject to customs and traditions, as many families have deprived women of their right to education.
With regard to providing basic living needs, a very small percentage of women work in different occupations to provide for themselves and their families, , while illiteracy rate is significantly higher among women aged 30 years and over, and poverty and unemployment rates are also high due to customs and traditions that limit women’s work opportunities.
The disastrous conditions that Syrian women have experienced over the past nine years have caused an increase in early marriage, sexual exploitation and exploitation in general, which negatively affected the material and moral status of Syrian women and girls.
Um Abdullah, a Syrian citizen from the southern countryside of Idlib, said that “before the outbreak of the revolution, I was enrolled in an illiteracy course and made progress, but the outbreak of the revolution reflected negatively on me and my family at all levels, mainly financially, and we lost our source of livelihood as a result of displacement.”
Due to the high cost of living, women of Idlib suffered greater levels of poverty, which led many women,especially widows,to resort to begging to make a living, especially since the illiteracy rates among women are approximately 30%, after it decreased to a large extent as a result of the participation of women in civil society organizations, voluntary teams and the branches of universities; while some families began to support females to complete their study so that they could work within organizations that required more female than male employees. According to information obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, poverty rates among widows and wives of missing persons are approximately 90%.
According to the testimonies of many women, the support provided by organizations to women is “mere publicity, as they established workshops and advocacy campaigns that do nothing for women,” while many women lost or had their jewelry stolen from them during the repeated displacement trips they had to make, and many were also forced to sell their jewelry because of poverty.
Women “F”, who wants to be identified by her initial only, was displaced from “Abu Makki” village in the eastern countryside of Idlib, says that she had approximately 20 grams of gold before she was displaced from her village, and her family was well off, but with the start of the bombing, the family began to exhaust its savings, forcing her to sell some of her jewelry first to start their displacement trip, then to buy a tent and secure some of the family’s needs. In the end, she was forced to beg to make a living. She added that “local organizations gave me only one food basket in 6 months”.
In light of the jihadi factions’ grip on some areas of Idlib and its countryside and the absence of any meaningful governmental role, women in those areas have been excluded from all aspects of normal life, due to the archaic and twisted ideology imposed by those jihadi factions on the region. Unemployment rate among women in those areas is almost 95%, while the wages for those who are working in agriculture are $3 a day at best. Meanwhile, local and international organizations’ support for women is limited to paltry food support or parcels, offered once a month and valued under $40 on the local market. As for civil society organizations, their role is almost abolished under the influence of jihadi factions, especially HTS, which imposes strict restrictions on women and prevents any female activity aimed at liberating women and their participation in community leadership.
Turkish-held areas: oppression, violence and catastrophic conditions
Since the Turkish forces and the Turkish-backed factions gained control over parts of Syria through the military operations “Peace Spring” and “Olive Branch”, the situation in these areas deteriorated rapidly. According to eyewitnesses, the control of these factions came with scourges in various regions, where (S.K.M), a Kurdish woman from Ras Al-Ain (Sri Kanye), confirmed that the situation was disastrous since the Turkish-backed factions gained control over the area, forcing her to leave the city with the continued indiscriminate Turkish shelling and the “National Army” storming of the city.
The Kurdish woman asserts, in her testimony, that her husband died 3 years ago and has 3 daughters and 2 young sons, one of whom lives in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and the other lives with her. She adds: “We have difficulty securing our livelihood, but for the security situation it would be good if things remain the same, but if the city’s residence in which I currently live is attacked, there is no where else for us to go again, and we would be vulnerable to living in the open”.
SDF-held areas: difficult conditions despite the relative calm
Despite the relatively calm in the areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the already difficult living conditions have exacerbated the situation of Syrian women who no longer know how to manage their livelihoods in light of the high cost of living and high food prices. According to “A.K.B”, a woman from Al-Darbasiyah and one of the Arabs who were brought by the Syrian regime to the region under the policy of the so-called ‘“Arab Belt”, women in those areas live like the others, so there is no difference between an Arab and a Kurd in the daily dealings, and there are no problems between the Kurds and the Arabs at all, but the main problem is “the high cost of living”.
In her testimony, “A.K” says that her family consists of eight individuals who live in one house and need 12 thousand Syrian pounds per day in order to buy basic necessities, adding that “the amount is very large for us, and there is difficulty obtaining such amount in these circumstances, especially with the spread of the coronavirus and the precautionary measures, noting that her daughters “work in agriculture on a daily basis, and earn 300 pounds per hour, while my husband and I exchange grazing sheep”.
In Al-Raqqa, which was known as the “capital of the caliphate” for the “Islamic State” organization, the Syrian crisis led to the deterioration of the status of women and its division into several layers, among them women working in the countryside who work in several professions such as agriculture, sewing and the manufacturing milk products, while women of the city have many professions, including working as teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, nurses and joint head of most civil and political departments, in addition to women affiliating with military and security groups, such as the Internal Security Forces and the Women Protection unites that work under the banner of the SDF.
Regarding the living situation of women in Raqqa, working women may meet the needs of the family in partnership with men, while widows and divorced women rely on the support provided by concerned organizations and institutions, in addition to humanitarian organizations working in Raqqa. At the same time, women still suffer from some tribal rituals and traditions, as they have to endure authoritarian masculinity and paternalistic patriarchy, asl well as being seen as inferior and “dependent minors”. Rural women, however, are viewed as view that “ being created for harvest, seedlings and marriage”.
During the period in which ISIS controlled the region,; women paid a heavy price for extremism, as they were prevented from working altogether, subjected to male mentality and rule, and excluded from the workplace and public life in general during the war. Also, education was off limits, and most girls were deprived of their most basic rights to education and work.
Regarding the status of women in Raqqa, “Y.N” says that she is a widow and divorcee, having married twice, the first when she was a minor and the second as an adult. She claims to be deprived of her children from the first marriage because of customs and traditions, and that she lives in complete poverty in one of the houses in Raqqa in Al-Firdous neighborhood, while not working at all and has no education certificate. “Y. N” says she lives “below the poverty line and live on charity.”
Deir Ezzor: societal control and a disastrous reality despite the expulsion of the “Islamic State”
As for women in Deir Al-Zour, Syrian girls and women still suffer from societal control due to the customs, traditions and legacy of the “Islamic State”, despite that two years have passed since the organization was expelled from the region. Over the past years, hostilities have led to an increase in the number of widowed and working women as a result of women being responsible for supporting their children.
In spite of the expulsion of ISIS from the region and the establishment of the Women’s Authority, which is concerned with protecting women rights, combating violence against women, achieving social justice, activating the role of women in political work and supporting women economically through projects and associations; the organization has completely failed for several reasons, the most important of which are: women themselves rejected some laws that attempted to grant women their rights, such as birth control, criminalizing polygamy, calling for the removal of the veil and calling for enrollment in the military establishment of the Syrian Democratic Forces, where women view these laws as “incitement to violate Islamic law, customs and traditions of rural society.”
Because of the war, poverty rates in the countryside of Deir Ezzor increased in general, and among women who lost husbands in particular; while illiteracy rates increased among females aged 20 , as the Islamic State prevented girls from going to schools when they ruled the area, and the rates for dropping out of school this year, reached about 20%, more than half of them were female.
Um Muhammad, a widow and a former teacher, says she is “sick and unable to work, and what concerns me is how I can feed my daughter, son and grandchildren. I live under the poverty line as many widows do, and the autonomous-administration has not provided us with anything comparable to what it takes from Deir Al-Zour oil”. Meanwhile, Samah, requesting to use this pseudonym, , says “women in rural Deir Ezzor need more financial support. As a result of the customs and traditions that govern our society, we find an almost non-existent response to the ideas put forward by the Women’s Authority.”
Over the past nine years, Syrian women have suffered the most horrific types of violations and catastrophic humanitarian conditions. whilst there is no end in sight for resolving the Syrian crisis anytime soon and that all warring parties seek to achieve maximum gains possible, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calls on the international organizations to intervene immediately to save what can be saved, improve the conditions of Syrian women, and demand local civic organizations that receive support and funding from international institutions help and protect Syrian. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights firmly believes that the restoration and rebuilding of Syria can only take place with the full participation of women, who are a cornerstone of Syrian society.