Women of Jabal Al-Hoss, one of Syria’s poorest areas on the outskirts of Aleppo, are viewed as non-productive burdens on the society and are thus deprived from accessing education, inheritance and land ownership. Current statistics show that women in Syria still noticeably lag behind their male counterparts in the economic market. Significantly, those participating in the economy hold informal jobs, and do not always have secure earnings, if any.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been working toward empowering women in the area through its project, “Rural Community Development at Jabal Al-Hoss”. By establishing “Village Development Funds”, which aim to build sustainable local financial institutions owned and managed by the people themselves, women are encouraged to start their own businesses to generate incomes and improve the life of their households. The project also provides vocational training and marketing services for goods and handicrafts produced by rural women.
In this socially conservative village lives 35 year old Fatima, a typical poor uneducated woman working in the agriculture industry outside the village. During high season, Fatima would travel to the city of Dar’aa every day, working from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m., to make only 100 Syrian Pounds (about $2) a day. It was only after becoming a beneficiary of the "Village Development Funds” that her life changed for good.
Fatima was always interested in tailoring and embroidery; one could see that by walking into her house, which is full with beautiful embroidered canvases and abayas (traditional dresses). Fatima, however, required both financial and technical support to pursue her passion. The UNDP project granted her both by offering her vocational training in tailoring and embroidery, aiming at turning her passion into an income generating activity.
Although embarrassed about being an elder novice and reluctant to break out of her daily routine, Fatima took on the training programme and was able, in a short period of time, to master embroidery and tailoring. This, she explained, allowed her to realize that it is not too late to self develop, and granted her a sense of pride and self actualization. Fatima invested her skills in the women of her village by teaching them the art of tailoring and embroidery in her small khibeh, so small that she could only fit 2 to 3 women at a time. She hopes to be able to find a place that will host more women in her sessions.
Although Fatima’s new profession has empowered her on a personal level, it did not financially, she explained. Surprisingly, Fatima refuses to take money from the women whom she teaches, saying that the joy of doing what she does is enriching enough.Moreover, she explained that cultural norms characterizing the village restrain her from accepting money from her equally underprivileged relatives, neighbors, friends and other people closely related to her. Her community also sees this type of work as an extra-curricular hobby, one that may even clash with her more important domestic duties. Fatima said that if her work was considered more seriously by her community, she would have been able to accept money from the women she coaches, and this hobby could actually become an income generating activity, one which the Rural Community Development Project at Jabal Al-Hoss initially encouraged.
According to Fatima, who generously entertains her guests by displaying her pieces of art, the women of the village were not always allowed to make sales for profit. It was not until 2007 that they were given permission by the village authorities to become income generating individuals. Moreover, in order to promote the acceptance of this new development on a social level, the community leaders were encouraged to sensitize the men of the village in order to support, or at least be at peace with the idea of, women’s social and economic involvement.
This maybe the story of one woman, but Syrian women just like Fatima are gradually making an effort towards self and economic empowerment through the help of UNDP, but more importantly through their will and aspiration to become active members of their society and to help in alleviating poverty and improving the lives of their families.
By Emily Rympa
Edited by Basma Atassi