Defusing the patriarchy: Syria’s men are learning about women, from women
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In Kurdish-held north-east Syria, ‘science of women’ classes are mandatory for male fighters. Some aren’t too happy about it.
This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.
On a sweltering summer day in a military academy just outside al-Hasakah in Syria, male fighters grumbled over a mandatory class called “jineology”, or “the science of women”. They’d already spent several days learning the basics of women’s history and mythology as well as about the damaging effects of patriarchy in their region.
All 102 assembled men were members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of militias in north-east Syria supported by the United States and led by the Kurds, a stateless people indigenous to the Middle East. The jineology class was part of an 18-week academy that would include military training. Most of the men were Arab and came from conservative communities. The lecturer, who went by the tough-sounding name “Roken 23 Doshka”, a nod to the Soviet-era machine gun, was a woman.
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About the Author
Elizabeth Flock
Foreign Policy @lizflock
Elizabeth Flock is an Emmy award-winning journalist, author and documentary filmmaker who focuses on gender and justice. Her forthcoming book, Conversations with Athena, is about female self-defence.
This story is reprinted with permission from Foreign Policy.
