SYRIA: Active promotion of gender equality in rural areas

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAMASCUS, 26 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - Men and women from local communities, NGOs and key decision makers in eastern Syria agreed in a recent workshop to actively promote gender equity and empower women in their respective governorates.

Iyad al-Dakhil, deputy director of planning in the Deir Ezzor governorate said that the workshop gave women a platform to discuss and call for their rights to be respected.

“This has been absent in our society,” he said. "I was surprised to see that both men and women were open to this idea of promoting gender equality despite our traditions where men dominate society," he explained.

Two sessions entitled "Training Workshop for Mainstream Gender Knowledge among Decision Makers in the Local Community" were held by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in cooperation with the Syrian Women's General Federation, on 23 and 24 August.

Similar workshops also took place last week in Sweida, 106 km south of the capital, Hama, 209 km north of the capital, and Aleppo, 355 km northwest of the capital.

“The workshop focused attention on vital roles played by men and women in sustainable development,” said al-Dakhil. “I believe I have to reconsider my relationship with my wife and I’ll spread gender equity among my family members, relatives and friends.”

The aim of these workshops was to disseminate basic knowledge among key decision makers at a governorate level and where the UN has ongoing projects.

"This workshop has shed light on problems facing rural women. It has injected confidence in the participants,” Boshra Abdel Rajab, participant and architect said.

The participants also agreed on a general definition of gender that did not contradict their own norms and traditions.

“Participants in the workshops have defined gender as social relations between men and women,” Omar Trabulsi, trainer and researcher, said after the workshop.

Ibtsam al-Dibs, chairwoman of the local branch of the Women’s General Federation, explained that this was the area’s first workshop on gender.

“Women in the city of Deir Ezzor practice their rights, including education and in work, but in rural areas, they are deprived, especially when it comes to access to education,” she said.

The population of Deir Ezzor is estimated at 1,150,000. About 300,000 live in the city while the rest are in rural areas.

Al-Dibs explained that rural women in this governorate tend to work on farmland and at home and end up working harder than men in some cases, she noted. Men play an economic role and control income distribution, while women play stereotypical social roles, she added.

Another major issue for women is that they have no right to inherit land in rural areas.

Reasons for such inequality come down to the governorate also being ruled by tribal culture, according to Zubeir Sultan, director of culture in the rural areas in Deir Ezzor. Hence, traditions not particularly favourable to women were strongly maintained.

Sultan said that the dowry payment (the sum of money paid by the bride to the bridegroom) was high in rural areas, reaching up to US $20,000 in some cases.

He pointed out that the birth rate in these areas was also high, with population growth rates reaching 4 percent with family’s having 10-12 children. “The higher the number of children a man has the more proud he is,” he said. This he said was not fair on women and prevents them from working.

Participants talked about the massive contradictions in society, such as the fact that difficult economic situations prompt most men in present day society to prefer partnership with working women.

At the same time, due to the prevailing traditions, society refuses a woman’s right of education and work. And sometimes the tribal mentality deprives women from both and even, in some cases, marriage itself.

Saleh al-Ramadan, planning director for rural areas, said in the past, gender issues were not considered in development projects, but that this would now change.

[ENDS]