Women in the Syria peace process

In the writing my master’s thesis, advisers have always asked, “What’s at stake?” My answer has varied throughout the past two years, going from a better way to understand a particular moment in history to including voices that have been left out. My answer now includes both, and also adds a new way to analyze contemporary affairs.

My thesis, “Nazik al-‘Abid’s Nur al-Fayha: A Kurdish Woman’s Magazine in 1920 Damascus,” discusses how ‘Abid, as a minority woman, editor, and columnist of a women’s magazine, interpreted Arab nationalism and inserted herself in the political discourse in 1920 Syria. ‘Abid was from an elite Kurdish family living in the Kurdish quarter of Damascus, Hayy al-Akrad. In her publication, she adopted an Arab consciousness, believed that women should be equal citizens in the Arab nation, and thought all citizens’ participation on an equal footing would lead to a modern, successful state. By looking at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and nation in her writing, I explore how al-‘Abid understood Arab nationalist issues, how she called on women to participate in the political and social spheres, and how she defined the rights women should demand from the nationalist project.

‘Abid chose not to point out her own difference from the majority Sunni Arab population. She held the Arab nationalist movement’s unity above all else. In the June 1920 issue of Nur al-Fayha, this question is posed: “What is the most wholesome means by which to eradicate sectarian hatred in our country?” Ethnicity was not a fully developed concept at the time. The sectarian hatred referred to was more religious than ethnic. This question remains pertinent to the present conflict, in which both sectarian and ethnic conflict is proving intractable.

One of the major themes that comes across in ‘Abid’s publication is the question of the state. Her concerns about what the new state will encompass and whom the new state will include resonate strongly in Syria today. Those are also issues in the Syria peace talks scheduled to resume on March 9. The last peace talks ended as the Assad regime, backed by Russian air power, began its attack on Aleppo. The delegation was not representative of all major players in the conflict. The Kurdish PYD and Islamist Ahrar al-Sham, in addition to the terrorist groups ISIS and al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, will again not have delegates present this month. The representation problem will continue in this next round of talks.

Inclusion of women is also an issue. Nearly a century ago, ‘Abid called for the complete inclusion of women in the political process of creating a state. Today, the Syrian High Negotiations Committee appears to want to implement that idea with the establishment of the Women’s Consultative Committee. In their February 1 press release, the HNC stated “that actual and active representation for all components of the Syrian society to be the corner stone of the successful political transition in Syria.” Yet, only 3 out of the 17 official delegates are women.

In ‘Abid’s time, the Syrian population was split on whether to include women in the official political process. Educated male nationalists began the post-World War I era garnering female support, but ended up turning their backs on women when they negotiated with the popular Islamic radicals in the 1930s. The HNC appears to want to include women in the 2016 peace talks, especially by bringing women from civil society into the consultative positions. But what will happen as negotiations become more complicated?

Women’s participation in the peace process is necessary if they want to gain inclusion in the new state. But it is not sufficient. It is possible that there will be a choice between peace and women’s equal participation now, just as there was a choice 80 years ago between a unified state and women’s rights. Women were pushed to the side during the state-making project. If  peace and women’s rights become too much for leaders to deal with at the same time, women’s issues will come second to peace, even with participation.