Women facing difficulties in the village of Tal Aouda

Journalist: Shinda Al Ali

This article was produced within the project «Empowering the Next Generation of Syrian Women Journalists» in partnership between the «Syrian Female Journalists Network» and «UntoldStories». This article was produced under the supervision of journalist Rukaia ALabadi.”

In the village of Tal Aouda, one of the villages near the city of Qamishli in north-eastern Syria, Amani Mahmoud, 26 years old, stands since the early hours of dawn with dozens of girls on the side of the road, waiting for public transportation in blazing summer heat and chilling winter. They head daily to work in the city of Qamishli, after their lives turned upside down, and their struggle increased in balancing work and family life.

Amani used to work with her family in agriculture in her village, Tal Aouda, to assist them in earning an income. “We used to work in the agricultural fields for about half a day,” she says. “We had time to rest, visit friends and relatives, and do other chores, plus the workplace was close to home.”

In the summer of 2021, Amani suffered a heat stroke due to high temperatures, forcing her to undergo lengthy treatment and stop working for several months. During this period, Amani and her family began to notice the effects of radical climate changes in their village and the surrounding areas, from delayed rainfall to rising temperatures, resulting in massive losses in their crops. “Climate change has affected our lives, our crops, and the ways we used to earn a living from agriculture.”

As a result of climate change, agricultural production has declined in recent years, forcing many girls to drop out of school and move to the city of Qamishli, seeking job opportunities to support themselves and their families while adapting to the difficult conditions of life.

Agricultural Land Shortage

Until mid-April 2023, the Jazeera regions in Syria recorded rainfall quantities below their annual averages, according to the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Reform. The Economy and Agriculture Authority, affiliated with the Self-Administration in northern and north-eastern Syria, also announced that the rainfall during the winter season of 2022 in Qamishli city was 22% below the annual average.

Adnan Jamo, the manager of the Agricultural Guidance Unit in the village of Aouda, says: “During the recent years, from 2018 to 2020, the rainfall percentage was good, prompting farmers to rely on seeds stored during that period. However, from the beginning of 2020 until 2023, crop yield has declined by 80% due to insufficient rainfall, drought, and sandstorms.”

According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published in 2021, “the shortage and uneven distribution of rainfall during the agricultural season 2020/2021, accompanied by heatwaves, rising costs of necessities, limited availability of water for irrigation, and the increased cost of fuel needed for pumping, resulted in a contraction of the area allocated for grain cultivation.”

The table below illustrates the shortage of cultivated areas in the village of Tal Aouda and the decline in agricultural production according to the Agricultural Guidance Unit in Tal Aouda village:

Effects of Climate and Political Changes

Many girls in the village of Tal Aouda were forced to take on additional burdens and responsibilities to ensure their livelihoods. Amira (a pseudonym), 24 years old, shares the same climate challenges with the rest of the girls in the village, including rising temperatures, lack of rainfall, and increased prices of fuel, fertilizers, and non-improved seeds. Amira’s family suffered massive losses in agricultural production and agricultural crop expenses, especially in the past year.

Amira, dressed in a black dress, with signs of fatigue and exhaustion on her face, tells her story. “Our land used to provide us with a decent income without having to work other jobs. Our reliance and focus were primarily on agriculture, the profession we inherited from our ancestors.”

Amira worked in agriculture while attending school, but the village’s conditions, its climate, and the economic and political situations forced her to move to the city for work. “We felt a significant difference between living in the village and the city after being landowners and farmers,” says Amira.

A report released by the organization ‘Women for Climate Justice International’ titled ‘Even Climate Change Discriminates Against Women,’ indicates that the impact of climate change and its consequences on women may be up to fourteen times greater than that of men.

Due to the Syrian government’s compulsory military service for men, many young men in the village had to make difficult decisions, with their options being either migrating or staying in the village without jobs. However, some young men chose to work in the city and reached it by smuggling through agricultural lands, covering a distance of 35 km round trip from neighboring villages instead of the original 14 km between the village and the city of Qamishli.

These factors further burden women and girls in the village, including Amira, who was compelled to work in the city to support her family after her younger sisters stopped working there.”

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) confirms that women, especially those living in impoverished and conflict-ridden regions, face more risks and burdens due to climate change.

In the same context, women and girls carry the responsibility of bringing clean water for their families. After the destruction of the main water network in the village due to the war since 2013, the village residents started relying on available groundwater for drinking and irrigation.

For Amani Mahmoud, the process of fetching water requires double effort. She carries plastic containers on her shoulders twice a day before going to work and upon returning, adding an extra task to her day, as getting water takes about a quarter of an hour. “I bring water from one of the nearby wells because we don’t have our own well,” Amani says. “No one else in the house does this task, despite having my younger brothers at home. It seems like I am the one responsible because I am a woman, and it’s part of my role.”

According to a report issued in June 2023 by UNICEF and the World Health Organization “women and girls go on long journeys to collect water, which makes them waste their time for education, work, and leisure, and exposing themselves to the risk of physical injury and dangers on the way.”

Flor Neumann, the head of the Gender Equality team at the United Nations dealing with climate change, also pointed out that “climate impacts, especially extreme weather events, affect the roles of women and men worldwide, particularly in rural areas.”

Challenges of Livelihood in the City

After the passing of Amani Mahmoud’s mother, she became the primary provider for her family. Initially, she worked transporting water crates alongside other girls, unloading the cargo of four large mobile vehicles between shops and restaurants. The working hours extended from eight in the morning until five in the evening. At times, work tasks required carrying fifty-kilogram rice sacks on their backs.

“Due to the demanding work and carrying heavy loads, my menstrual cycle starts at unexpected times, and I have to take injections to alleviate the pain. I can’t express my incapacity to carry all these heavy loads in front of the supervisors because I am in desperate need of this job,” says Amani.

Amani receives a weekly wage of fifty thousand Syrian pounds. However, she finds herself obligated to spend a portion of this income daily on transportation costs, totaling six thousand Syrian pounds. “The young men at work are qualified, supervise the girls, and their wages are higher than ours.”

She is compelled to change her job whenever she experiences fatigue and psychological exhaustion from work. When we first met her, she worked in carrying and lifting, but she now works in a bakery, impacting her mental state and making her feel unstable, according to her.