KURDISH WOMEN: AGENTS OF CHANGE IN THE FIGHT FOR IDENTITY, LIBERATION, AND EQUALITY
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.47743/asas-2025-1-814Mots-clés :
Kurdish women, jineolojî, gender equality, democratic confederalism, PKK, YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), patriarchy, national liberationRésumé
Cette étude explore le rôle transformateur des femmes kurdes en tant qu'acteurs politiques et combattantes armées dans la lutte pour l'égalité des genres, l'identité nationale et la libération. Historiquement marginalisées au sein des cadres patriarcaux et tribaux, les femmes kurdes ont de plus en plus affirmé leur autonomie, notamment après l'établissement d'une zone d'exclusion aérienne au Kurdistan irakien en 1991, qui a ouvert un espace pour l'activisme politique et la défense des droits. Le changement idéologique introduit par Abdullah Öcalan, fondateur du PKK, à travers des concepts tels que le jineolojî et le confédéralisme démocratique, a redéfini les rôles des femmes, les faisant passer de sphères privées à des sphères publiques, militarisées et politiquement autonomes. Des organisations comme les YPJ (Unités de Protection des Femmes) incarnent ce changement, alliant résistance militaire et révolution sociale. La guerre contre l'EI a amplifié leur visibilité mondiale, bien que les récits occidentaux négligent souvent les motivations profondément politiques et anti-patriarcales qui sous-tendent leur participation. L'émancipation des femmes est au cœur — et non accessoire — du projet révolutionnaire kurde, remettant en question à la fois les paradigmes féministes libéraux et antimilitaristes. Malgré un conservatisme culturel persistant et une violence systémique, les femmes kurdes continuent de redéfinir les normes en liant lutte féministe et libération nationale. Leur engagement interroge les modèles dominants d'État, d'identité et de genre, offrant une alternative radicale ancrée à la fois dans la résistance armée et la transformation idéologique.
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