Syrian women demand active role in shaping post-Assad government

Following the fall of Syria’s Bashar Assad regime, Syrian women continue to work to make their voices heard and to be active stakeholders in shaping the new administration.

The Syrian Women’s Political Movement (SWPM) recently organized a press conference in the capital Damascus to convey their demands for the new government to be built on the foundations of freedom and equality.

Joumana Seif, a co-founder of SWPM and legal advisor for the International Crimes and Accountability program at the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they organized the meeting to talk about what the movement has accomplished in the seven years since its establishment and to emphasize the role of women in the formation of the new government.

Seif stressed women are important stakeholders in the Syrian revolution, noting that most of the participants in the first demonstration against the Assad regime in front of the Interior Ministry on March 16, 2011, were women.

Noting that the demonstration was organized by women and that Syrian women should have a say in designing the country’s future, Seif stressed the need to understand each other to meet on common ground.

She highlighted that democracy is the only way for Syria to have a bright future and emphasized the importance of “sustainable peace and transitional justice” in the transition to a new government.

Dua Mohammed, a member of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement who attended the meeting, said it is “impossible” to form a new government in Syria without women and emphasized the importance of women in political change.​​​​​​​

Saying women are an important part of the political transformation in Syria, Mohammed highlighted that they should have a say at every stage of the formation of the new government and play an active role in the decision-making processes.