On International Women’s Day, issues like the gender pay gap, maternity leave, and women in management positions are not on the table in Syria. Women are barely part of the conversation when it comes to daily reports of the war: Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced out of their homes as malnourished children freeze to death on the borders.
Behind the bedlam are women that have a voice of their own – but it sometimes takes hard work to make sure that they are heard. Merna al-Hasan is one of the people making sure that happens.
Armed with a camera and microphone, Merna’s job takes her out to see things men don’t see. She seeks to elevate the voices of civilians – especially women – in her war-torn city.
In one of her reports, Merna stands next to a snow-covered tent in one of the crowded refugee camps that are constantly expanding in Idlib. She’s reporting on cases of children who’ve frozen to death in the camps, speaking to residents, and addressing the camera directly as she points to the frozen laundry hanging on a clothesline between the tents: “Even the laundry is frozen, so imagine the kids – people in the camp have the right to warmth.”
Merna, an Idlib native, is also stuck among the 3 million refugees – many of whom were displaced from other cities – besieged in the final rebel-held province, making her passionate and authentic.
There are many women journalists working in Idlib – usually assisting from behind the scenes. Merna is unique because she is the only female journalist native of Idlib to appear in front of the camera, presenting her own news reports.
Idlib has been under a crippling onslaught by Syrian and Russian forces since December when Assad moved to take the last rebel held slice of Syria. Nearly one million people have fled their homes in under three months, with the final battle for Idlib seeing the largest wave of displacement in Syria since the beginning of the war. A tenuous ceasefire brokered by rebel backer Turkey and Assad ally Russia has briefly delayed the inevitable, but as the Syrian regime advances, showing no commitment to perennial ceasefires, Merna’s life is as much in danger as those she is reporting on.
“What inspired me to report was our suffering, as free people who demand the right to dignity and life in the face of repression and weapons,” Merna told Rudaw English. “Pain can be an inspiration, as can the hope of living a life full of dignity.”
It is dangerous to report in Idlib as a media activist, let alone be a woman. Her work is not only made difficult by the rebel factions who restrict journalists and impose their control on Idlib, nor the Russian and Syrian warcraft flying overhead. The rigid patriarchal society of Syria has long held a rigid mentality that doesn’t accept her doing journalism — a “man’s job.”
“I get threats every day saying they want to rape, kill, and come after me and my family,” Merna told Rudaw English.
She recently endured sexist harassment online after an elected member of the Syrian parliament for Aleppo, Fares Shehabi, tweeted a photo of Merna, claiming that an “al-Qaeda journalist” was raped by 4 terrorists, and shrugging it off as “the fate of anyone who betrays their country.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the sexist insults in a statement. “Delighting in a journalist’s supposed rape and constantly using her gender to attack her work is intolerable,” said Sabrina Bennoui, head of RSF’s Middle East desk. “The polarization of the media in Syria is resulting in spiteful and degrading smears and, in this case, attacks on a woman’s morality.”
Merna simply brushed off the rumors, posting on Facebook: "Another day, another rumor."
Syria had always ranked near the bottom in global indices of gender inequality and press freedom even before the war, which has worsened the situation of both. In Syria, few men encourage female family members to work. But Merna’s brother was different. Merna recalls she used to drive her in his car to go do interviews and encouraged her to do journalism and get out of the house. She recently lost that crucial backbone of support when her brother was killed in the bombardment in February.
Merna says that on International Women’s Day, she’ll be working instead of celebrating. Despite these challenges, Merna considers it even more important to keep on doing journalism in one of the most patriarchal and hostile environments in the world.
“The courage to do this is by itself an achievement in our society’s standards,” Merna told Rudaw English. “I challenged those customs and changed the way they [men] think of it, and eventually they’ll start to encourage me and respect me.”
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