Syrian Women pay the highest price of war

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8 every year, Syrian journalist and feminist activist Insaf Sleitine spoke to ANHA agency, evaluating the current state of women’s rights and the particularity of the Syrian situation.

Sleitine confirmed that women in Syria are paying the highest price for the ongoing war and the accompanying collapse of the protection and justice systems.

She said that celebrating March 8 this year comes amid a war affecting the entire region, noting that its effects are not limited to battlefields but extend to threaten social cohesion and internal security, pushing women into the position of the greatest and deepest loss.

She added that women in wars are not merely an “additional victim,” but become both direct and indirect targets through killing, displacement, and gender-based violence, in addition to bearing the burdens of family support and economic and social collapse in the absence of any effective protection system.

She explained that this occasion (March 8) also coincides with the first anniversary of what she described as the “ethnic cleansing” campaign that struck the Syrian coast a year ago, considering it a pivotal moment that cannot be separated from the current reality of women.

She noted that women were at the center of targeting during that campaign: some were killed, others lost their husbands and sons, while some women were subjected to kidnapping and enslavement, and others were displaced without any legal or humanitarian protection.

Sleitine stressed that speaking about women’s rights in Syria today cannot be a purely theoretical discussion about laws or slogans, but rather a discussion about the right to life, dignity, justice, and survival, in addition to recognizing the violence women have endured and their loss of protection.

A global reality repeated in Syria

On the global level, Sleitine pointed out that recent experiences show that women’s rights are often the first to be sacrificed during wars and crises, where principles of equality are suspended in the name of security necessities or stability, and rights are reorganized according to the logic of power rather than law.

She added that women are often used as moral or propaganda symbols, while their real demands for protection, participation, and justice are marginalized.

The particularity of the Syrian situation

She stressed that the tragedy in Syria is compounded by the nature of the complex and prolonged conflict and the near-total collapse of the justice system, noting that Syrian women have repeatedly paid the price for political and military transformations.

She explained that this price has manifested in women being direct victims of war through killing, displacement, forced poverty, the loss of family providers, and the absence of security, in addition to their use as tools of social control through redefining the role of women according to the ideologies of de facto authorities.

She also noted that women’s issues are sometimes used as an undeclared political bargaining tool to improve the image of authorities or send external messages, without any real commitment to structural change.

The suffering of women in different areas

Speaking about the situation on the ground, Sleitine noted that women in the Syrian coast faced compounded losses after the ethnic cleansing campaign, including the killing of husbands and sons, collective bereavement, kidnapping, enslavement, and displacement, along with the absence of any framework for accountability or protection.

She added that in many cases women were left to confront these crimes alone, and their suffering was often met with silence, denial, or intimidation aimed at preventing them from speaking out or filing complaints.

In Sweida, she pointed out that women represent an active civil force, yet the violence that struck the province last July, including killings, kidnappings, and violations revealed the fragility of women’s status and the absence of political, legal, and constitutional guarantees to protect them.

In the areas of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh, and regions under the Autonomous Administration, Sleitine said that although legal frameworks exist to regulate equality and women’s participation, reality has been shaped by war, siege, and political division. She noted that these areas also witnessed incidents involving the killing of Kurdish women and the mutilation of their bodies with clear gender-motivated motives.

She added that this reflects a message of violence targeting women not only as individuals but as symbols and social roles.

In the rest of Syria, she explained that women’s rights have become entirely dependent on the authority of the ruling powers on the ground, where freedom of work, movement, public participation, and even personal choices have become conditional rights that can be withdrawn by administrative or security decisions.

She emphasized that Syrian women today face systematic denial of the violence inflicted upon them, ongoing political marginalization, and attempts to return them to a position of guardianship rather than citizenship.

Women’s representation in the political structure

Regarding women’s presence in the features of the so-called “new Syria,” Sleitine said that the current political structure does not reflect genuine representation of women, either according to general political standards or academic criteria.

She explained that comparative political literature distinguishes between descriptive representation the mere presence of women in official positions and substantive representation, which means women’s ability to influence policies and decision-making.

She added that what is currently happening is a limited descriptive representation that does not rise to substantive representation, noting that the “transitional authority” lacks institutional mechanisms obligating the inclusion of women in real centers of decision-making, and that women are included only when symbolic representation is needed.

Appointment of only one woman in the government

Commenting on the appointment of only one woman to a ministerial position in the interim government, she said that this step cannot be considered a genuine indicator of women’s participation in decision-making unless it is part of a clear public policy aimed at integrating women into power structures.

She added that political empowerment is measured through several criteria, including the structural nature of the appointment, the position’s location within the hierarchy of power, the ability to influence public policies, and institutional independence.

She stressed that these conditions do not appear to be present in the Syrian case, where women are included through selective appointments without binding quotas or clear constitutional and legal guarantees.

Women’s representation in the People’s Council

Regarding the recent elections of the so-called People’s Council affiliated with the interim government where women constituted 14% of candidates but won no more than 4%, Sleitine said that this disparity reflects a multi-level structural exclusion rather than merely cultural or individual factors.

She explained that the absence of a women’s quota and equal opportunity mechanisms represents a major legal obstacle, in addition to the nature of the closed political system that does not allow the formation of independent political blocs, which harms women even more.

Legal guardianship and women’s rights

Regarding debates about legal guardianship over minors, Sleitine said that this issue is a direct indicator of how the state perceives women’s status as citizens.

She added that restricting guardianship to the father or male relatives reproduces legal guardianship systems and diminishes the mother’s legal capacity, which contradicts both the principle of the best interests of the child and the principle of equality before the law.

She stressed that modern legal approaches emphasize joint guardianship and full recognition of the mother’s legal capacity, noting that any retreat from this would represent a legal setback.

Administrative decisions concerning women’s work

At the conclusion of her remarks, Insaf Sleitine said that administrative decisions affecting women’s work cannot be described as neutral regulatory measures, but rather fall within what is known as social control through administration.

She explained that these policies redefine the public sphere as a male-dominated space in which women’s presence becomes conditional, placing women’s work under special moral and behavioral standards that transform rights into privileges that can be withdrawn.

She added that decisions such as arbitrary dismissal, salary deprivation, or imposing restrictions on appearance are not related to professional competence but reflect the use of administration as a tool to reshape gender roles in society.

She concluded by stating that such policies undermine the genuine empowerment of women and contradict any serious discussion about political transition or the building of a state governed by the rule of law.

ANHA