Dibs’s remarks sparked fury among many, with some taking to social media to express their outrage [GETTY]
Comments by Syria’s newly appointed head of women’s affairs have sparked uproar, with social media users expressing outrage on Sunday, weeks after rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey’s state-run TRT broadcaster this week asked Aisha al-Dibs, the only woman so far in Syria’s transitional government since Assad’s 8 December ouster, about the “space” that would be given to feminist organisations in the country.
Dibs said that if the actions of such organisations “support the model that we are going to build, then they will be welcome”, adding: “I am not going to open the path for those who don’t agree with my thinking.”
She invited Syrian women everywhere “to come together around the same table to study the model” that Syria should adopt to support the role of women and women’s rights.
“Why adopt a lay or civil model? We want to implement a model that is right for Syrian society, and Syrian women will make it happen,” she said.
Addressing Syrian women from all of the country’s religious communities, she said “we are all equal”, and invited “those with qualifications and experience” to apply for public sector posts.
But she also called on women “not to go beyond the priorities of their God-given nature” and to know “their educational role in the family”.
Dibs’s remarks sparked fury among many, with some taking to social media to express their outrage.
“You can talk about your own thinking… at home, but don’t impose your thinking by wanting us to stay at home,” said Facebook user Batraa Abo Aljadayel.
“No to a new political and cultural repression… a repression of public and individual liberties,” she added.
Actress Aliaa Saeid said on social network X that “we were imprisoned so that we could (obtain the right) to express our opinion”.
“We have been displaced, our homes have been destroyed, so that in the end you come and tell us what’s allowed and what’s not?” she added.
Despite reassurances, some Syrians fear the new administration will move towards religious rule that marginalises minority communities and excludes women from public life.
New Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shibani sought to calm the situation on Sunday, posting on X that authorities would “stand by” women and “fully support their rights”.
“We believe in the active role of women within society, and we have confidence in their capacities,” he said, adding that “Syrian women fought long years for a free homeland that preserves their dignity and status”.
