The plight of refugee women from Syria in seeking their livelihoods

Being the bread winners for their families, refugee women bear the main brunt of life difficulties brought upon them by the harsh conditions of displacement. In a feature published last Saturday, As Safir daily interviewed a number of Syrian refugee women who grieved their hard luck. Jamila Hilmi (50 years) from Idlib voicing fear over the gradual cut in food assistance, said, “We are seriously concerned that one day, the amount of food aid that we receive will drastically drop below the critical point needed for our survival.” Another woman, Sawsan Safidi from Aleppo area, said: “We live in deplorable conditions as we no longer are able to meet our basic needs with diminishing aid”, adding “our worst fears now result from Lebanese government’s recent decision to ban the work of refugees unless they secure a permit. This permit is very costly and impossible to get, thus leaving a considerable number of displaced people jobless.”

Ma7hbooba, a mother of six, whose husband was killed in Aleppo two years ago, noted that seeking livelihoods in Lebanon has become very difficult particularly so since Lebanese people believe that we are taking jobs away from them and curbing their ambitions. Even seeking a part time job on which we can subsist has become a major challenge.”

For her part, Fatma Hamdani, told As Safir that she leaves her house in the early morning hours to work as a housekeeper in the neighboring households. “We have grown so destitute as to ask our employer to keep leftovers of food for our daily meals.”

Najwa Azi, another refugee woman, maintains that disappointment, humiliation and weariness, have taken a grip on displaced Syrian women, who now feel dehumanized. Domestic and war violence, destruction and killings, added to hunger and destitution, have turned women into a cheap commodity."

(Source: As Safir, May 30, 2015)