âWe donât need saviors, we need solidarity.â (Mariam Jalabi)
âBeing a woman doesnât mean I am just here to raise children. Being a woman means that I am here to write history.â (Mizgin Tahir)
Thousands of Syrians flocked to Damascusâs Umayyad Square on December 8 to mark the first anniversary of former President Bashar al-Assadâs stunning overthrow. Jubilant fireworks lit up the sky against a backdrop of rubble, illuminating the devastating impact of over a decade of foreign intervention and civil war. Girls and women were disproportionately impacted by the cycle of violence, displacement, lack of access to essential services, and interface between political repression and gender-based violence.
As a new year dawns on Syria, a cultural vanguard of planners, architects, human rights advocates, and engineers is poised to rebuild - with women on the frontlines. Women leaders are working to lay a strong foundation for womenâs rights, ensuring they are sitting at negotiation tables rather than sidelined in the process of rebuilding. Syrian women have stepped forward to help rebuild governance structures, embed equality, and ensure that peace and reconstruction processes reflect the aspirations of all Syrians. Womenâs political and civic participation has steadily increased over the past year, with women taking on roles in the media, relief work, and education sectors. While women journalists are playing an especially important role to amplify Syrian womenâs voices and issues, women are still struggling to parlay visibility into political influence, access leadership roles, and foster long-term stability.
Women-led civil society organizations and community-focused initiatives are key shapers of Syriaâs future. Theyâre collaborating with Syrian womenâs networks in neighboring refugee camps and the broader diaspora to ensure an inclusive post-conflict recovery and equal representation for women. Leading the way is the Syrian Womenâs Political Movement (SWPM), a feminist organization forged through encrypted messages, whispered meetings, and bold acts of defiance. Launched in 2017 as an oppositional movement to expand womenâs political participation under the Assad regime, the group is dedicated to inclusive dialogue and peacebuilding. A defining moment for the organization came at a 2011 opposition conference in TĂźrkiye, when SWPM leaders found themselves in the back of the room, their voices struggling to be heard over those of the older men who dominated the front rows. Hungry to shape the conversation, a few SWPM members moved to the front of the room during a coffee break, taking over menâs seats in a defiant move to create space for women. Ever since, the SWPM has upheld its commitment to creating change by making sure women have front row seats. Today the SWPMâs base is surging, with the group welcoming up to five new members each day in a collective effort to reimagine political power in Syria to advance its vision for womenâs representation in the new Syria; with women making up 30% of all political bodies.
Syriaâs new President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former rebel leader whose Islamist forces led the offensive that toppled Assad, has promised to take an inclusive approach to rebuilding, vowing to respect Syriaâs diverse ethnic and religious minorities. Since HTSâ takeover of Syria, women have been appointed to several key positions, including Mohsena al-Maithawi as governor of Wuwayda and Maysa Sabreen as head of Syriaâs Central Bank. But some of those appointments, like Islamist Aisha al-Dibs as head of the Syrian Womenâs Affairs Office and Shadi al-Waisi as justice minister, have raised concerns among womenâs groups and activists. Although SWPM leaders have held workshops in Damascus with UN officials, they have yet to secure a meeting with President al-Sharaa and perceive national dialogue initiatives so far as limited. The interim government adopted a new constitutional declaration last year, but many womenâs rights activists are skeptical of its more restrictive clauses and anxious to see how it will be implemented.
Unfazed, the SWPM is prioritizing the most pressing issues facing the nation, including peace and security, infrastructure, electricity, food scarcity and distribution, lack of funding exacerbated by years of economic sanctions, and the need for constitutional frameworks to guarantee womenâs rights. Leaders hope to start by overhauling Syriaâs security and defense sectors, citing a wave of kidnappings and violence fueled by ongoing Israeli intervention in Syria that is threatening womenâs safety and instilling a culture of vigilantism. The SWPM also seeks to help rebuild damaged infrastructure and launch a national reconciliation program to prosecute war criminals and foster accountability. âOur immediate plan is that weâre not leaving the space open for only men to decide whatâs happening,â founding member Mariam Jalabi says. âWe will be a part of every process, including the negotiation process, and when a new government forms, we will be part of it.â
Organizers on the ground envision a multi-pronged approach to embedding womenâs rights in Syria that centers local womenâs movements and government agencies in partnership with the UN and international community. Ghalia Rahhal, a longtime womenâs rights advocate in the region, co-founded the organization Mazaya to empower women through training and education programs, legal support, community-based dialogue and awareness-raising. Local Kurdish leader Anahita Sino has established a garden library in northeast Syria where writers and readers can gather, nurturing intellectual freedom. Artists and musicians with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra are reentering the spotlight too, staging concerts to inspire a new dawn in Syria. âArt is what lifts us off the ground and allows us to rise above everything happening around us,â says the Orchestraâs lead musician Razan Qassar. âArt is the lifeblood.â
A coalition of womenâs rights advocates is also facilitating internal collaboration through Syriaâs national consultation program, which brings local women together in focus groups to draft policy papers that are shared with government officials and at international conferences. Operating with âno men in the roomâ, the program offers a safe space for women to dream, build, share personal stories, and advocate for political change. Another catalyst for national dialogue is Syrian Feminist Track (SFT), which invites leaders from all existing civil society organizations in Syria to come together to brainstorm and produce policy papers at a feminist political table. To heal internal divisions between local Kurdish and Druze communities fueled by years of colonial intervention, SFT organizers hope to stage public conversations about the meaning and foundations of Syrian national identity.
Alarmed by a global climate of backsliding on womenâs issues and a vacuum of women political leaders worldwide, the SWPM hopes to translate international frameworks like CEDAW, the Personal Status Law, and UN Security Resolution 1325 into local approaches, especially since Syrian personal status and family laws have historically disadvantaged women. The movement is also forging powerful coalitions of cross-learning, cooperation, and communication for Syrian women to connect with and learn from other women in conflict zones, especially regional leaders from Afghanistan, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Iran, TĂźrkiye, and Sudan who have already developed tactics for engaging with patriarchal organizers, nationalist movements and heads of state. Syrian women leaders are especially keen to brainstorm with women from Gaza, Yemen, Iran, and Ukraine who have faced a similar landscape of protracted conflict and militarized sexual violence.
Womenâs rights activists are also eager to attract global investment in the transitional phase, especially since 90% of Syriaâs population currently lives below the poverty line. By supporting women activists and professionals on the ground with flexible funding and resources, foreign investors can promote human rights and lay crucial foundations for the future by helping to rebuild governance structures. In the first six months after the fall of the Assad regime, Syria received $28 billion in foreign grants from the Gulf, TĂźrkiye and Italy, with Western powers also investing heavily in Syriaâs reconstruction. True empowerment for women will come when the new nation is able to attract direct investment and project finance, not just foreign aid and grants. âEconomic empowerment strengthens women psychologically, intellectually, and socially,â Rahhal says. âItâs a weapon.â Rahhalâs words reverberate as Syria introduced a new currency on January 1 in a broader effort to revitalize the economy and rebrand the state. Designed to break with the past of Assadâs rule and cult of personality, the new currency embraces a âno faces, no placesâ aesthetic to express a new national identity, featuring iconic symbols of Syriaâs agricultural and natural heritage including butterflies, mulberry branches, oranges, the Damask rose, cotton, wheat, birds, olive trees, and Arabian gazelles and horses. For younger Syrians, the new currency signals progress and change, fostering a renewed sense of belonging and hope for the future.
Sources: The Guardian, TRT World, BBC, AP, Al Jazeera (story), The Guardian, DAWN, The Jerusalem Post (images)
Helmet to HeelsÂŽ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Share Helmet to HeelsÂŽ