{"id":20986,"date":"2020-10-22T16:10:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T15:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ripess.eu\/?p=20986"},"modified":"2022-06-01T11:49:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T10:49:41","slug":"an-overview-of-aanes-womens-institutions-in-manbij-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/an-overview-of-aanes-womens-institutions-in-manbij-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"An Overview of AANES Women\u2019s Institutions in Manbij (Syria)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Article by Meghan Bodette in Medium<\/a> on 16 August, 2020<\/strong>, published by The Solidarity Economy Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exerpts of the article<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the applicability of the Kurdish movement\u2019s feminist principles to non-Kurdish communities in Syria has been debated by analysts and observers, few serious attempts to understand how women from these communities view these principles in practice have been made.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case of Manbij<\/a>, liberated from ISIS by the Syrian Democratic Forces in August 2016, shows how women in a multi-ethnic Syrian city used AANES [the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria] frameworks to build institutions, take on leadership roles, and organize in their communities to change discriminatory attitudes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of women\u2019s political and military structures in Manbij over time suggests that the AANES system can be a true model for women\u2019s empowerment across Syria.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Institutions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By 2016, women in North and East Syria had been fighting on the front lines for several years. Images of civilians embracing YPJ fighters were shared in international media coverage of the liberation of Manbij, becoming symbolic of the broader fight against ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the operation, local women had already begun to join the Manbij Military Council (MMC), which was set up in April 2016 before the SDF effort to take the city. In February 2017, a first women\u2019s military academy was established in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political Institutions and Civil Society<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The role of women in civilian institutions in the AANES is no less important. These institutions have been largely responsible for the day-to-day efforts to change discriminatory social attitudes and empower Syrian women in their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manbij was one of the first places where AANES political structures and social policies were implemented in an area without a Kurdish demographic majority. Yekitiya Star, the confederation of women\u2019s organizations in North and East Syria, was active in Manbij as early as 2013, establishing a Women\u2019s Knowledge and Education Center there<\/a> in March of that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its liberation from ISIS, women from all of the different ethnic and religious groups in the region have participated actively in women\u2019s political institutions and civil society organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women in the Democratic Civil Administration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, when the Manbij Democratic Civil Administration was formally created, it was established with a co-chair system and the 40% quota for women\u2019s representation that is mandatory across North and East Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Houses<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first women\u2019s institution established in liberated Manbij was a mala jin, or women\u2019s house, which was opened in the city in November 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s houses are unique institutions in North and East Syria that protect victims of gender-based violence, resolve domestic disputes, and intervene to prevent women from being exploited and oppressed. … Several others followed.<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, by 2019, women\u2019s houses in Manbij had taken on over 3,000 cases<\/a>. Less than 10% of these cases had been referred to the formal legal system, while the majority had either been resolved by the houses or referred to the social justice and reconciliation committees for resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One notable aspect of the work of women\u2019s houses in Manbij was their role in helping women who had suffered from gender-based violence and other oppression under ISIS. Some of the early work carried out by the region\u2019s first women\u2019s house included the formation of a\u00a0Research Committee<\/a>, which documented the testimonies of women who were harmed by the terror group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Assemblies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, women\u2019s assemblies are supposed to exist in parallel to mixed-gender institutions at every level of governance. This policy reinforces women\u2019s influence in government, in addition to the quotas and co-chairs systems that ensure their representation in mixed institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Women\u2019s Assembly in Manbij was\u00a0established<\/a>\u00a0in March 2017. The Assembly has coordinated with local women to create smaller women\u2019s assemblies and communes in villages and towns across the region. By May 2019, they had helped establish\u00a043 of these assemblies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Economic Empowerment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In June 2017, women from Manbij participated in the first\u00a0Women\u2019s Economy Conference<\/a>\u00a0in North and East Syria,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple women\u2019s co-operatives exist in Manbij, providing women with quality employment and working to meet local economic needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Women\u2019s Laws in Manbij<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Due to conservative attitudes among some segments of the population, the AANES Women\u2019s Laws<\/a>, adopted in Kobane, Jazira, and Afrin Cantons in 2014, are not applied in full<\/a> there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, women\u2019s institutions do campaign to enforce many of the protections that these laws provide elsewhere.Members of women\u2019s organizations in Manbij also meet directly with women in their homes and villages in order to make them aware of their rights and educate them about social problems. In October 2018, the Manbij Women\u2019s Assembly claimed to have\u00a0met with more than 3,000 women<\/a>\u00a0to discuss these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jineoloji in Manbij<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A jineoloji research center was opened in Manbij on January 2nd, 2018. Jineoloji is the Kurdish women\u2019s movement\u2019s \u201cscience of women\u201d, a controversial issue among some conservative populations in North and East Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the complete article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Meghan Bodette in Medium on 16 August, 2020, published by The Solidarity Economy Association Exerpts of the article: While the applicability of the Kurdish movement\u2019s feminist principles to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7021,"featured_media":20987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8462,2038],"tags":[2073,454],"class_list":["post-20986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feministnews","category-news-from-the-network","tag-women","tag-women-and-sse","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.eu.ripess.rio20.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}