Special Program – In Kobane, Equality is Born from War

During the war in Syria, in 2014, the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) took control of the Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria. After extensive battles that continued into the following year, the Kurds, both men and women, managed to liberate the occupied city.

Throughout, women played a decisive role in the city’s resistance and frontline combat. On one hand, they organized themselves behind the frontline and waged armed combat directly against the jihadists. On the other, they simultaneously challenged the age-old gender roles in the province.

The women’s movement in the war in Kobane has become a symbol for both the resistance against IS and a unique revolutionary female struggle in the creation of a popular pluralistic and free autonomy in the Middle East.