To Rebuild Syria, Start With Women

Co-published with Women for Women International.

Women played a vital role in the Syrian revolution. We risked everything to resist the brutal Assad regime, and we paid a heavy price.

I’ve spent years working with women-led organizations documenting the violations Syrian women endured: imprisonment, torture, displacement, disappearance, forced marriage and sexual violence. The war weighed most heavily on women’s lives, especially after many men were killed or imprisoned, leaving women to be the main breadwinners for large families.

In December 2024, the regime was finally overthrown by the former Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Last week, Syria’s new president, Ahmad Al Sharaa, was welcomed on the global stage at the United Nations—the first Syrian leader to address the General Assembly in six decades. President al-Sharaa made the case to foreign leaders that acceptance and investment is needed for our country to rebuild. It was an important moment in our history.

For women though, the early signs are alarming. After years of being sidelined politically and economically under Assad, they are again excluded from decision-making in the new caretaker government. Only a few women have been appointed to Syria’s government, all in minor roles. I’ve heard from friends in the country that in some government buildings, schools and universities, separate spaces are being built for men and women. And after a government directive that women should dress “modestly” at the beach, some activists are worried that more conservative restrictions are coming on women’s rights and freedoms. 

But alongside political exclusion, there lurks a much darker crisis: the continuing abduction, disappearance, and forced marriage of women and girls from minority backgrounds. Since February 2025, there have been reports that Alawite women and girls, aged between 3 and 40, have been kidnapped or gone missing in parts of Syria. Many abductions happen in broad daylight. Sometimes families receive ransom demands but, in many cases, after a ransom is paid the whereabouts of the women remain unknown. There have also been documented cases of forced marriage: abducted women married to their captors. And so far, the authorities often fail to properly investigate or even acknowledge the problem. 

In some ways, Syria now stands at a crossroads. After decades of bloodshed, there are real reasons for hope. Despite immense challenges, Syrian women are ready to shoulder the hard work of rebuilding our country.

We also know from failed attempts at peace in Syria and around the world, that it is only when everyone is included does peace stand a chance of taking hold. Syrian women bring so much experience and talent, but a truly peaceful future means a reckoning with what we have lost — and what we still risk losing. 

Since 2020, Women for Women International has partnered with Women Now for Development (WND), a local organization in Syria that works to help women learn the skills they need to earn money and provide for themselves and their families. Together with these partners, we are also supporting women who were imprisoned by the regime to heal and rebuild. It will take many years for them to recover from the psychological trauma of war and for families to grieve the dead and the disappeared. Our work is just as urgent as ever. 

For Syria to rebuild on a foundation of justice and peace, the new government must ensure women’s meaningful participation in all aspects of society. We need pressure from the international community to ensure this happens, so that women are not written out of Syria’s future and instead a part of shaping it.