Women playing greater role in refugee camps
January 18, 2013 - 19:33
The atmosphere was a bit festive at
the Kilis container camp on Syria-Turkey border, perhaps one of the
best in the world in terms of equipment and infrastructure.
The
placards and banners hail the election of local leaders at the camp as a
"step further to establish a new nation". But that dream is so far
elusive.
Fatima Tirmanini and Malika Moussa are two female
candidates hoping to get elected to the administrative council that will
look after the refugees. The election is largely symbolic, but offers a
glimpse into a practice alien to Syria: free election.
Tirmanini
and Moussa have a long way to go. They come from a conservative
background where prejudice and gender discrimination are very common. To
win the election, they have to convince swing voters that they can
deliver and up to the task.
But women are already jumping in the
fray. Men go to the battlegrounds, or are involved in the
anti-government movement which leaves women running the villages or the
camps. They tend to the injured, internally displaced and the orphans.
Female
expats travel all the way from Gulf countries or Europe delivering aid
in the camps. Others are setting up charities imposing a new reality
along the border: women are having a bigger say in the daily life of
Syrians grappling with a 22-month-long rebellion that continues to claim
more casualties and destruction.
Malika didn’t finish her studies
and she regrets that, in her late forties she is determined to do
something for her people. Her husband stood by her saying “helping
Syrians through these tumultuous times is a great thing”.
Fatima
Tirmanini was not deterred by the pervasive patriarchal tradition that
views negatively about women mixing up with male colleagues, but she
couldn't care less saying the "new Syria we fought for is a Syria where
we will be in a much better position".
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