future now”

Chapter Two
General characteristics
of women’s groups
4 This chapter examines the data generated from the 49
women’s group questionnaires and the ten focus group
discussions. To give a better picture of the terms under
which women activists in Syria are currently organized,
this chapter lists some basic characteristics of the women’s
groups as well as the composition of their members.
Geographical spread
As shown in Figure 1, the Al-Hasaka governorate hosts the
largest number of women’s groups with 14 out of 49. The
majority of these, six groups, are located in Al-Qamishli,
followed by five in Amouda. Aleppo governorate has the
second largest amount with nine of the 49 groups, most
of which are located in Afrin, followed by Aleppo city.
Damascus city and women’s groups operating both inside
Syria and across borders host the same share with six
groups each, while Latakia and Daraa only accounted for
one group each.
When analyzing the geographical spread according to the
population in each governorate 1 , it is clear how violence
plays a pivotal role in the increase or decline of women’s
groups. Al-Hasaka, for example, is only the fourth largest
governorate in terms of population among the areas covered,
yet it hosts the highest number of women’s groups.
This can be attributed to the better safety and security
conditions in Al-Hasaka, partly because Al-Hasaka is excluded
from the regime’s airstrikes and bombardment 2 .
Another reason may be that Kurds constitute the majority
of the population in Al-Hasaka, and Kurdish women were
politically active before 2011, mainly due to the decimation
practiced against them by the Syrian regime.
Similarly, Afrin 3 , a suburb in Aleppo’s northern countryside
that also has a Kurd majority, hosts four out of the
nine women groups located in the Aleppo governorate,
while Aleppo city, although with a higher population than
Afrin, only hosts three groups. However, Aleppo city is under
the control of various armed factions and is thereby
subjected to both the regime’s shelling and barrel bombs
as well as the overt control of armed groups and warlords.
Deir Ezzor’s low emergence of women groups (three out of
49) can be attributed to the control of the area by IS 4 and
the regime (a few neighbourhoods in the city).
Damascus city and Latakia governorates are solely under
the control of the Syrian regime, which poses a direct
threat to any emerging autonomous civil society organizations,
women’s groups included 5 . This explains why Damascus
city is only third in terms of the number of women’s
groups it hosts (six groups out of 49) despite the city’s
higher population than Al-Hasaka 6 .
It is worth noting that as many as ten of the 14 women’s
groups in Al-Hasaka are involved in peacebuilding activities.
Chapter Four details how stable security conditions
are a contributing factor here as well.
Figure 1: Geographical distribution of women’s groups
15
12
14
9
6
11
9
3
0
6
4
3 1 1
Women at a training on journalism
in Aleppo. Photo: Zaina Erhaim
Al-Hasaka Damascus Aleppo Crossborder
Idleb Deir Ezzor Daraa Latakia
10