12 years later, displaced Syrian women remain unheard

Nearly 12 years since the beginning of the Syrian civil war crisis, more than 6.7 million people continue to be internally displaced, with more than 5.4 million Syrian refugees registered as refugees in neighboring countries. Of the Syrians displaced globally, nearly two thirds are women, and despite anecdotal stories of individual survival and success, their circumstances remain dangerously precarious. Moreover, the views and lived experiences of Syrian refugee women are rarely incorporated in research, service provision, and policy design – a situation largely unchanged since early in the crisis. Syrian women are at the intersection of multiple precarities, and rendered invisible in the global narrative and even more vulnerable to various forms of gender-based discrimination and violence. It is incumbent upon researchers, activists, politicians, and humanitarians to center displaced Syrian women’s experiences and narratives and to build more constructive coalitions that would lead to truly durable solutions.