Aïcha al-Debs, president of the brand new “Women's Affairs Bureau” in Damascus, was questioned by Turkish television about the “space” that will be given to feminist associations. His answers were controversial.
Recent comments by the head of the Women's Affairs Office within the new Syrian authorities sparked an outcry on Sunday on social networks and among civil society. Aïcha al-Debs, president of the brand new “Women’s Affairs Bureau” in Damascus, was interviewed this week by Turkish television TRT on “space” which will be given to feminist associations. The manager, the only woman within the transitional government, explained that if the action of these organizations “supported the model that we are going to build, then they would be welcome: I am not going to open the way to anyone who does not agree with my thinking”.
She invited Syrian women, whether in exile or in the country, “to come together around the same table to study the model” which Syria wishes to adopt to strengthen the place of women and their rights. “Why adopt a secular or civil model? We are going to put in place a model specific to Syrian society and it is the Syrian woman who will achieve it.she said. Addressing Syrian women – Sunnis, Druze, Alawites or Christians – she insisted on the fact that “we are all equal” and invited “those who have diplomas and experience” to turn to government institutions for employment.
“Do not overstep the priorities created by God”
But she also called on women to “not overstepping the priorities of their God-created nature”namely “their educational role within the family”comments which provoked strong reactions. “You can speak your own thoughts (…) in your house, but do not impose on us your thoughts which want us to stay at home”denounced an Internet user, Batraa Abo Aljadayel, on Facebook. “No to a new cultural and political repression (…) a repression of public and individual freedoms.” Actress Aliaa al-Saïd also protested against X: “We were imprisoned to express our opinion, we were displaced, our homes were destroyed, so that in the end you come and tell us what is allowed and what is not?”
On Sunday, as if to calm the indignation, the head of Syrian diplomacy, Assaad Hassan al-Chibani, affirmed on X that the authorities “will stand alongside” women “and fully support their rights”. “We believe in the active role of women in society, and we have confidence in their abilities and skills”he clarified. “Syrian women have fought for years for a free homeland preserving their dignity and status.”
