Feminist Knowledge Production

In late 2018, Women Now started a new research project, entitled “Gender Justice and Feminist Knowledge Production in Syria”. This project was developed to provide the appropriate space, platform and critical feminist tools for Syrian women and activists. It specifically aimed to:

 

  • Document and voice Syrian women’s concerns, experiences and needs and put forward their own analysis and understanding of the conflict, ways to deal with it, and start building the country’s future.
  • Support and strengthen the development of grassroots feminist activism as well as alternative and original social and political activism, connecting social, economic and political justice to gender justice.
  • Emphasise the role of women and feminist activists, not only as representatives of a population group affected by the conflict, but also as primary conflict analysts and knowledge producers.
  • Develop ways to facilitate feminist thinking and knowledge production, document women and feminist activism, and disseminate this knowledge.

Women Now’s focus on the practical manifestations of gender issues in Syria, framed by the perspectives and interest of Syrian women, makes it a unique feminist knowledge producer. Not only can the organisation document and voice the concerns, experiences and needs of Syrian women, but it can also provide a space for them to claim their rightful role as knowledge producers, primary conflict analysts and decision-makers regarding Syria’s future. Through a survivor-centred approach for investigating issues, such as crimes of sexual violence or women’s needs in relation to reclaiming property upon return, realities of displacements, or household economy, Syrian women can develop their own feminist understanding of gender justice, reconstruction, equity and peacebuilding.

More information on our research, advocacy and knowledge-production work can be found under: Reports