Since its inception in 2014, the social contract of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has stipulated that all government bodies, including local councils, cabinets, and defense forces, must have one man and one woman sharing power in the executive seats. This is a hallmark legal innovation, being implemented and built in areas formerly threatened by and occupied by ISIS. Unlike traditional hierarchical structures, where power is narrowed at the top, the co-chair system emphasizes a philosophy of shared decision-making and collaboration at all levels of governance.
In that spirit, there are efforts made to ensure that, when representative of the local population, the co-chairs come from different ethnic groups. In a region plagued by sectarian strife, such commitment to inclusive governance offers a viable alternative—one rooted in democratic values and respect for human rights.
But while the co-chair system is fully functioning in most areas of the AANES, it is not without its challenges. It is a radically progressive system being built within a society which still has highly traditional gender roles, within family systems and society at large. It is the rare household in the region in which women are not still solely responsible for the upkeep of the house, and preparation of food for large family structures. This puts an extra burden on them if they also want to work in the AANES outside the house. Some women have been denied the opportunity to go to school. Many have never experienced being asked for their opinion, especially on political matters – and so are nervous to offer it. Men often express their support for the system, but just as often make their objections clear.
Despite these difficulties, the co-chair system is enshrined in the law of the region, and women across the region have jumped at the opportunity the co-chair system provides. In an effort to further encourage women, and to change the calculus for the men as well, the AANES has a system of training for those who work within it. This can include weeks of classes about women’s history, the history of the development of patriarchy in the region, and the possibility of a new system. For women, this also includes training in self-confidence. A female co-chair in Kobani, who is in charge of some of these educations said, “We had to, especially at the beginning, teach women not to demure to men. We told them, if you are having a problem, or don’t believe in yourself, come to me, come to another woman. Let us help you.”
Not everyone who works in the AANES sees this sort of education in a concentrated way. For women who have children, often they can’t get away from their homes for long enough to take advantage of the opportunity. But whether or not they see education in women’s history, there are many changes happening in the society that are impossible for anyone to miss. Women’s participation in the fight against ISIS, at levels as high as 30 percent in combat roles, changed the common sense assumptions about what women are capable of for many in the region, both women and men alike.
“I just thought, if women can do this, fight ISIS, then of course they can do other things in politics,” said a co-chair of the children’s department in Qamishlo, who is a man. This made him accept the system, he says, but at first it didn’t translate into his working relationship with his co-chair, “At the beginning I didn’t think she could help me very much, but over time I saw that we complement each other. She sees things I don’t.” He adds after a pause, “now I like it.”
As the social realities are shifting, women’s participation has become an integral part of the identity of the region. However, those who chose to participate in the Autonomous Administration and become a co-chair make themselves a target for Turkish drones. Turkey believes the system represents unacceptable Kurdish power in the region, and regularly assassinates co-chairs from the sky. In June of last year, co-chairs of the Qamishlo province, Gabriel Chamoun, a Syriac Christian man, and Yusra Darwish, a Kurdish woman, were struck while traveling on the road near the Turkish border. Gabriel Chamoun managed to flee the burning car, while Yusra Darwish and two others traveling in the car were killed on the scene.
Though the point of these attacks is to scare people away from participating in the Autonomous Administration, after a decade of war many people are simply tired of the fear. “Let them bomb us, I have to go places,” the co-chair of a university said on the way from Raqqa to Qamishlo, often a dangerous road.
In addition to this present danger, the region is plagued by other groups vying for people’s minds, hearts, and pockets. This is especially true in the southern regions of the AANES, where ISIS and Iranian-backed militias openly recruit, or blackmail new members. While the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the military force of the region, pay a salary that is more than five times the amount of civil servant salaries in the Syrian regime controlled areas, ISIS and the Iran have deep pockets, and for some, a more attractive ideology.
This is especially true in Deir ez-Zor, in the south of the country. Much is made about this region, where ISIS was most recently in control in 2019. Some of the women’s laws are unevenly applied here, due to the social realities. For example, polygamy is outlawed in the AANES region, but this ban is rarely enforced in Deir ez-Zor, where polygamous family structures are common. On the other hand, an astonishing 80% of employees of the AANES in Deir ez-Zor are women. This could be for a number of reasons. There are many widows in the region who don’t have other prospects for employment, and are welcome to work with the AANES. But it could also be surmised that the women here deeply understand that threat of the other ideologies swirling in the air in the region, and the unique alternative that the AANES system offers.
It is perhaps because of, not in spite of, the difficulties and the threats in the region that the system endures and continues. Some of the most fervent supporters of the system are women who know what is under threat, and what a singular historical moment this is. As one woman co-chair in Raqqa – the city that was the seat of the ISIS “caliphate” for three years – tells it, “We were living in hell. Now we have a chance. We know what this means and we won’t waste it.”
