KURDISH WOMEN: AGENTS OF CHANGE IN THE FIGHT  FOR IDENTITY, LIBERATION, AND EQUALITY

Lucian-Andrei  DESPA

doi:10.47743/asas-2025-1-814

Autori

Lucian-Andrei DESPA University of Bucharest

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47743/asas-2025-1-814

Cuvinte cheie:

Kurdish women, jineolojî, gender equality, democratic confederalism, PKK, YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), patriarchy, national liberation

Rezumat

Această lucrare explorează rolul transformator al femeilor kurde ca actori politici și combatante armate în lupta pentru egalitatea de gen, identitatea națională și eliberare. Istoric marginalizate în cadrul structurilor patriarhale și tribale, femeile kurde și-au afirmat din ce în ce mai mult autonomia, în special după stabilirea unei zone de excludere aeriană asupra Kurdistanului irakian în 1991, care a deschis un spațiu pentru activismul politic și advocacy-ul drepturilor acestora. Schimbarea ideologică introdusă de Abdullah Öcalan, fondatorul PKK, prin concepte precum jineolojî și confederalismul democratic, a redefinit rolurile femeilor de la sfere private la sfere publice, militarizate și politice. Organizații precum YPJ (Unitățile de Protecție a Femeilor) întruchipează această schimbare, îmbinând rezistența militară cu revoluția socială. Războiul împotriva ISIS a amplificat vizibilitatea lor globală, deși narațiunile occidentale trec adesea cu vederea motivațiile profund politice și anti-patriarhale care stau la baza participării lor. Emanciparea femeilor este centrală — și nu incidentală — în proiectul revoluționar kurd, provocând atât paradigmele feministe liberale, cât și cele antimilitariste. În ciuda conservatorismului cultural persistent și a violenței sistemice, femeile kurde continuă să redefiniească normele prin legătura dintre lupta feministă și eliberarea națională. Angajamentul lor pune sub semnul întrebării modelele dominante de stat, identitate și gen, oferind o alternativă radicală bazată atât pe rezistența armată, cât și pe transformarea ideologică.

Biografie autor

Lucian-Andrei DESPA, University of Bucharest

PhD candidate in Political Sciences at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Bucharest

Referințe

Abdullah Azeez, H. (2018). Gorran: A party of words, not deeds. The Washington Institute. Available at: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/gorran-party-words-not-deeds

Abu-Lughod, L. (2013). Do Muslim women need saving? Harvard University Press.

Al-Ali, N., & Käser, I. (2020). Beyond feminism? Jineolojî and the Kurdish women's freedom movement. Politics & Gender, 18(1), 212-243. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S1743923X20000501

Al-Ali, N., & Pratt, N. (2011). Between nationalism and women’s rights: Kurdish women’s movement in Iraq. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 4(3), 337-353.

Can, A., & Yildiz, K. (2020). The role of religion in the Kurdish women's movement: Reclaiming faith for liberation. Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Gender Studies, 12(2), 101-122.

Dirik, D. (2018). Overcoming the nation-state: Women’s autonomy and radical democracy in Kurdistan. In Gendering Nationalism (pp. 145–163). Springer International Publishing.

Dirik, D. (2020). Women’s justice-seeking in the context of political violence [Video]. LMH Oxford. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC695DT8m0Y

Engels, F., & Untermann, E. (1902). The origin of the family, private property and the state. Charles H. Kerr.

Gunes, C. (2017). The Kurdish question in Turkey: New perspectives on violence, representation, and reconciliation. Routledge.

Hussein, M. (2021). Gender politics and processes of nation-building in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. University of Kurdistan Hewlêr.

Jineoloji Committee Europe. (2018). Jineolojî: The science of women.

Kaya, Z. N. (2017, February 8). Outperforming Baghdad? Explaining women’s rights in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. LSE Women, Peace and Security Blog. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2017/02/08/outperforming-baghdad-explaining-womens-rights-in-the-kurdistan-region-of-iraq/

Krämer, G. (2018). Religious identity and the Kurdish women’s movement: An ambivalent relationship. Middle East Feminist Review, 22(4), 45-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725886.2018.1483896

Marcus, A. (2007). Blood and belief: The PKK and the Kurdish fight for independence. NYU Press.

Mufid, A. (2016). How the Gorran movement fell out of love with change. Kurdistan Tribune. Available at: https://kurdistantribune.com/how-the-gorran-movement-fell-out-of-love-with-change/

Müller, M. (2019). Gendered guerrilla warfare: Kurdish women combatants and the struggle for liberation. Journal of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies, 15(3), 45-67. https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-7412345

Nilsson, A. (2018). Kurdish women fighters and the reconfiguration of religious identity. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 20(3), 268-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2017.1369335

Nilsson, M. (2018). Muslim mothers in ground combat against the Islamic State: Women's identities and social change in Iraqi Kurdistan. Armed Forces & Society, 44(2), 261–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X17699568journals.sagepub.com

Öcalan, A. (2010). The revolution is female: Abdullah Öcalan’s writings in “il manifesto”. Available ar: http://www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/english/hintergrund/schriften/ ilmanifesto.htm (Consulted March 29, 2025).

Öcalan, A. (2011). Democratic confederalism (Trans. Mesopotamian Publishers).

Öcalan, A., & Happel, K. (2011). Prison writings: The PKK and the Kurdish question in the 21st century. International Initiative.

Özyürek, E. (2015). Being German, becoming Muslim: Race, religion, and conversion in the new Europe. Princeton University Press.

Periferias. (2025). Kurdish struggle for democracy and gender equality in Syria. Revista Periferias. Available at: https://revistaperiferias.org/en/materia/kurdish-struggle-for-democracy-and-gender-equality-in-syria/

Saleem, Z., & Skelton, M. (2019, November 10). Protests and power: Lessons from Iraqi Kurdistan’s opposition movement. LSE Middle East Centre Blog. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2019/11/10/protests-and-power-lessons-from-iraqi-kurdistans-opposition-movement/

Shahvisi, A., & Sayegh, G. (2020). Rojava: The details of their struggle. Makhzin. Available at: https://www.makhzin.org/issues/feminisms/rojava-the-details-of-their-struggle

Tank, P. (2017). Kurdish women in Rojava: From resistance to reconstruction. Die Welt des Islams, 57(3–4), 404–428. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-05734p07brill.com

Tank, P., & Baser, B. (2016). Gender in the representations of an armed conflict. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 9(3), 294–314. https://doi.org/10.1163/18739865-00903007