The Women’s Economy Committee in Hasakah, northeastern Syria, promotes women’s economic empowerment by developing projects that serve women, preserving women’s rights and preventing women’s exploitation.
The Syrian pound has lost its value against the dollar ten times over since 2020, and hundreds of times since the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011 – fuelling a worsening economic catastrophe across the country, including in the autonomous, Kurdish-led region of North and East Syria (NES). Locals report markets empty of customers, and a daily struggle to put bread on the table. Medya News spoke to Cheleng Omar, a leading Syrian Kurdish economist, to ask what steps can be taken to ameliorate the crisis.
The Aboriya Jin (women’s economy) committee of North and East Syria has started buying wheat at the Tekil Beqil cooperative.
Women’s House, one of the networks created to solve the problems faced by women, leads social change in the Qamishlo Canton of North and East Syria.
As a group of internationalists from different places in the world, being involved in different structures in Rojava we were part of a tour in the region of north and east Syria, the region organized as the Autonomous Administration.
Bedia Şimay and Bedriye Tırak are the owners of a handicraft shop located in the Sur district of Amed. Two sisters sell the crafts made by women living in provinces such as Batman, Mardin, and Siirt in their shop to earn a livelihood. “We have provided employment opportunities for hundreds of women until now,” Bedia Şimay said.
The majority of residents of northeastern Syria suffer from electricity and water shortage, especially drinking water. These problems are caused by the severe and continuous decline in the level of Euphrates River, and Turkey’s withholding of its water.
In the face of an array of ecological challenges, a range of actors in NES have been working to cultivate an “environmentally minded population”. RIC spoke with Berivan Omer, a member of Jazira region’s leadership board and the women’s ecology platform, Ziwer Shexo, a volunteer for Keziyen Kesk (‘Green Braids’), a popular environmental initiative, and
Turkey’s decision to cut off the flow of water in the Euphrates River has resulted in nine water pumping stations in northern Syria being out of service, exacerbating the region’s water crisis.
Speaking about their works and activities in North and East Syria, Tell Majdel City Council Co-chair Sacîda Al-Ased says they have changed the perspective of tribes towards women by raising awareness.
Women living in the Silvan district of Amed have already begun to collect wild mountain thyme. The women use wild mountain thyme in the kitchen or sell it to earn a living. Thyme has an average productive lifespan of six years and there are more than 200 varieties of thyme. Thyme contains chemicals that might help bacterial and fungal infections. Drinking thyme tea can be effective in reducing period pain and toothache.
Tishrin Dam, on Euphrates River, in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria operates for only six hours a day, after 85 percent of its lake water level was depleted.
