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After 12 Years of War, Women Outnumber Men in Syria

Women walk the streets of Damascus on a rainy day. (SANA)
Women walk the streets of Damascus on a rainy day. (SANA)
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After 12 Years of War, Women Outnumber Men in Syria

Women walk the streets of Damascus on a rainy day. (SANA)
Women walk the streets of Damascus on a rainy day. (SANA)

A walk in the streets of Damascus is enough for a person to notice the predominance of women and absence of men in the war-torn country. Where have the men gone?

After 12 years of war tens of thousands of men joined the army and many others were killed or forced to flee the country, leaving behind the women, who now outnumber their male counterparts.

Syria has not held a census since 2004, but a 2023 study by the Jusoor for Studies center showed that Syria’s population stood at 26.7 million people, including over 9 million residing abroad.

A source at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor said women now make up 60 percent of the population.

Speaking to the Arab World Press (AWP) on condition of anonymity, the source added: “More women have joined the workforce so that life could go on in the country.”

Women outnumber men seven to one in the market, he revealed, predicting the figure will rise to ten to one in the future.

Unmarried women

The war has created countless problems in Syria, including a drop in marriages. Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Salwa Abdullah revealed in 2021 that less and less men have been marrying, raising the number of unmarried women to over 70 percent.

“Who will I marry?” wondered architect Susan, 33, who hails from a small town in the coastal Tartus province.

“There are no men left in our cities. The only men we see are the posters of martyrs whose images are plastered all over the walls. The only male voices we hear are the ones over the telephones of loved ones living abroad,” she added.

She said not a single women has a ring on her finger to signify an engagement or marriage. “Only a lucky few have nabbed a husband,” she remarked.

Moreover, she revealed a new trend in nearby villages where women are agreeing to become the second wife of already married men. She spoke of her shock when she learned that her friend agreed to marry a man 25 years her senior.

A judicial source told AWP that 40 percent of new marriage licenses in Damascus are actually applications for a second marriage.

Sociologist Nasry Kayali said one of the consequences of the war has been the rise in polygamy.

The war has led to a large discrepancy between men and women, so some women have reluctantly agreed to a polygamous marriage in spite of its downsides, he went on to say.

He warned that the imbalance between men and women will have economic and social repercussions in Syria and transform it from a young to an aging society.

Military service

Rayan, 28, a recent graduate in Damascus revealed that he didn’t earn enough grades that allow him to pursue higher studies, which would allow him to be temporarily exempt from mandatory military service.

“It is a disaster. I can no longer delay my enlistment,” he lamented.

“Life here isn’t fair. When you don’t have enough money to flee abroad, you are forced to join the army,” he added. “You are forced to put your dreams, plans and ambitions on hold.”

The Syrian constitution describes military service as a “sacred duty”. Once they turn 18, every able-bodied male has to enlist in the army for 18 months to two years of service. After they are discharged, they remain reservists for a period of around seven years.

However, the war led to amendments to the enlistment laws, making it so the reserve period could stretch beyond seven years, meaning any male could be called up for the military. This has forced several Syrians to flee abroad rather than join the army and its perils during war.

Rayan revealed that he will seek refuge in Lebanon to avoid military service. “I don’t want to leave my country, but I couldn't find any other option,” he said, adding that once in Lebanon, he will seek passage to Türkiye.

Immigration

Abdullah, 40, is one of millions of Syrians who could no longer tolerate the crippling economic crisis and unemployment in their country. Immigration has become an “inescapable” option, he said.

Abdullah works as an accountant for an import and export company in Damascus. He said his salary isn’t enough to support him, his wife and two children for more than three days. He has so far been unsuccessful in finding a second job.

He revealed that the family needs at least 6 million Syrian pounds (roughly 430 dollars) to buy essentials each month. He said he was forced to sell some of his wife’s gold jewelry to make ends meet. “Now, we no longer have anything to sell,” he remarked.

His wife, Mariam, 35, said she is not opposed to her husband traveling abroad to earn a better living.

She stated that two of her work colleagues also have husbands who have sought opportunities abroad given the dire conditions in Syria.

She noted that the lowest salary her husband could earn abroad is much better than the meager wages in Syria, which she said barely cover transportation expenses.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said the conflict in Syria has plunged nearly 90 percent of the population in poverty.

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In Assad's Hometown, Few Shared in His Family's Fortune. They Hope they Won't Share in His Downfall

A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
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In Assad's Hometown, Few Shared in His Family's Fortune. They Hope they Won't Share in His Downfall

A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

On the walls of the palatial mausoleum built to house the remains of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, vandals have sprayed variations of the phrase, “Damn your soul, Hafez.”
Nearly two weeks after the ouster of his son, Bashar Assad, people streamed in to take photos next to the burned-out hollow where the elder Assad’s grave used to be. It was torched by opposition fighters after a lightning offensive overthrew Assad's government, bringing more than a half-century rule by the Assad dynasty to an end, The Associated Press said.
The mausoleum's sprawling grounds — and the surrounding area, where the ousted president and other relatives had villas — were until recently off limits to residents of Qardaha, the former presidential dynasty's hometown in the mountains overlooking the coastal city of Latakia.
Nearby, Bashar Assad’s house was emptied by looters, who left the water taps running to flood it. At a villa belonging to three of his cousins, a father and his two young sons were removing pipes to sell the scrap metal. A gutted piano was tipped over on the floor.
While the Assads lived in luxury, most Qardaha residents — many, like Assad, members of the Alawite minority sect — survived on manual labor, low-level civil service jobs and farming to eke out a living. Many sent their sons to serve in the army, not out of loyalty to the government but because they had no other option.
“The situation was not what the rest of the Syrian society thought,” said Deeb Dayoub, an Alawite sheikh. “Everyone thought Qardaha was a city built on a marble rock and a square of aquamarine in every house," he said, referring to the trappings of wealth enjoyed by Assad's family.
In the city’s main street, a modest strip of small grocery stores and clothing shops, Ali Youssef, stood next to a coffee cart, gesturing with disdain. “This street is the best market and the best street in Qardaha and it’s full of potholes.”
Families resorted to eating bread dipped in oil and salt because they could not afford meat or vegetables, he said. Youssef said he dodged mandatory military service for two years, but eventually was forced to go.
“Our salary was 300,000 Syrian pounds,” a month, he said — just over $20. “We used to send it to our families to pay the rent or live and eat with it" while working jobs on the side to cover their own expenses.
"Very few people benefited from the former deposed regime,” Youssef said.
So far, residents said, the security forces made up of fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the main group in the coalition that unseated Assad, and which is now ruling the country — have been respectful toward them.
“The security situation is fine so far, it’s acceptable, no major issues,” said Mariam al-Ali, who was in the market with her daughter. “There were a few abuses ... but it was fixed.” She did not elaborate, but others said there had been scattered incidents of robberies and looting or threats and insults.
Al-Ali called Assad a “traitor,” but she remained circumspect about her Alawite community's position in the new Syria.
“The most important thing is that there should be no sectarianism, so there will be no more blood spilled,” she said.
Dayoub, the Alawite sheikh, described “a state of anticipation and caution among all citizens in this area, and in general among Alawites,” although he said fears have started to ease.
At the town’s municipal building, dozens of notables sat on bleachers discussing the country' s new reality and what they hoped to convey to the new leadership.
Much was centered around economic woes — retired public servants' salaries had not been paid, the price of fuel had risen, there was no public transportation in the area.
But others had larger concerns.
“We hope that in the next government or the new Syria, we will have rights and duties like any Syrian citizen — we are not asking for any more or less,” said Jaafar Ahmed, a doctoral student and community activist. “We don’t accept the curtailment of our rights because the regime was part of this component.”
Questions also loomed about the fate of the area's sons who had served in Assad's army.
Since the army's collapse in the face of the opposition advance, residents said several thousand young army recruits from Qardaha have gone missing. Some later turned up on lists of former soldiers being held at a detention center in Hama.
“These are young guys who are 22 or 23 and they never took part" in active combat, said Qais Ibrahim, whose nephews were among the missing. Over the past few years, active combat was largely frozen in the country's civil war. “We send our children to the army because we don’t have any other source of income.”
Um Jaafar, who gave only her nickname out of fear of reprisals, said the family had no information about the fate of her two sons, stationed with the army in Raqqa and Deir Ezzour, though one son's name later turned up on the list of those imprisoned in Hama.
“My children got the best grades in school, but I didn’t have the ability to send them to the university,” she said. “They went to the army just for a salary that was barely enough to cover their transportation costs.”
Syria's new authorities have set up “reconciliation centers” around the country where former soldiers can register, hand over their weapons and receive a “reconciliation ID” allowing them to move freely and safely in Syria for three months.
But Ahmed, the doctoral student, said he wants more. As the country attempts to unify and move on after nearly 14 years of civil war, he said, “We want either forgiveness for all or accountability for all.”
Ahmed acknowledged that during the war, “rural Latakia was responsible for some radical groups,” referring to pro-Assad militias accused of widespread abuses against civilians. But, he said, opposition groups also committed abuses.
“We hope that there will be either an open process of reconciliation ... or transitional justice in which all will be held accountable for their mistakes, from all parties," he said.
"We can’t talk about holding accountable one ... group but not another.”