LONDON: Informal ads for “affordable Syrian brides” have circulated on Iraqi social media platforms in recent months, several of them perpetuating tropes about Syrian women with lines such as: “Marry a Syrian woman for $100 and enjoy delicious dishes and a delightful accent. “
The controversial posts, which have drawn attention in the local media, are texted as if they are advertisements for chattels. One reads: “You can hear to'borni (a Syriac term of endearment) at home for as little as 500,000 dinars” — the equivalent of $380.
Men promoting the trend lament the exorbitant mahrs demanded of Iraqi women, often from $10,000 to $20,000, locals told Arab News. In addition to this, they say, prospective Iraqi brides will also often ask for property, expensive jewelry and cars.
Mahr is an obligatory gift from a groom to his bride in Muslim societies as a form of security and respect, often with legal significance in marriage contracts.
The sheer volume of online posts, especially on the video platform TikTok, suggests that the trend is genuine. Commentators have expressed outrage at the posts, finding the rhetoric degrading to both Syrian and Iraqi women.
More than a decade of violence, displacement, economic hardship and insecurity have already damaged the dignity of Syrian women. Now, in neighboring countries where they have sought safety and economic security, they endure a form of commodification.
Many Syrian women, who find themselves the sole breadwinners, have sought work in neighboring states, including Iraq, as the economic situation worsens in their homeland.
Faced with the harsh reality of being a lonely single woman in a conservative society and in countries where the law offers limited protection, some have agreed to marry locals for meager mahrs, if any at all.
Sattam Jadaan Al-Dandah, Syria's ambassador to Iraq, revealed in January that in 2023 alone, around 5,000 marriages between Syrian women and Iraqi men had been documented.
According to the United Nations Development Program's 2024 Gender Inequality Index, Iraq is the fifth worst country in the world for women and girls despite many recent efforts to address gender inequality.
“Syrian women in countries like Iraq, where the law does not provide enough protection, are often subjected to harassment, exploitation and even human trafficking,” Mouna Khaity, a British Syrian feminist and researcher, told Arab News.
“The main reasons why Syrian women agree to such arrangements – many seek them – in almost all neighboring host countries are the need for protection and the desire to escape a deteriorating economic situation.”
Thirteen years of conflict and economic sanctions have pushed 90 percent of Syria's population below the poverty line and created a new social norm where families struggle to survive without women's work.
“Under relatively normal circumstances, women and girls' communities and families would provide a level of protection, even if this sometimes means unwanted intervention or even control,” Khaity said.
The erosion of this protection due to displacement has made Syrian women and girls more vulnerable.
About 5.4 million Syrians live in five countries around the region — Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt — where more than 70 percent of them are women, according to UN figures.
“Women in need of protection will accept a lower mahr compared to women living within the protection of their families in their home countries,” Khaity said.
But a woman's decision to try to marry for financial reasons “is often not a personal choice but a collective family decision, where women – even girls – are convinced that this is an opportunity for a better life.
“This is often seen in displacement camps, where women do not even have the opportunity to choose, and marriage to a local can be perceived as a convenient way to transform from a charity recipient to a dignified and protected woman.”
In 2016, the Norwegian Refugee Council reported an alarming increase in the incidence of child marriage within Syrian refugee communities, with girls as young as 13 being married off.
A 2023 report by American Near East Refugee Aid, a non-governmental organization that addresses the needs of refugees and vulnerable communities in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, found that 41 percent of Syrian refugee women aged 20 to 24 in Lebanon were married before the age of 18 years.
Emphasizing that the situation has been created by “layers of discrimination and injustice”, Khaity said the blame for such marriages should not be placed only on individuals or families, but on “whole systems” that have normalized the exploitation of Syrian women through deprivation. of responsibility.
“Neighboring countries have not tried to integrate Syrian refugees, who are excluded by local communities and exploited by politicians for economic benefits,” she said.
Deep-rooted gender-related economic inequality has long disadvantaged women, and the war has only widened this gap, even as the share of women earning an income has increased.
“Middle Eastern societies have historically accumulated wealth in the hands of men, forcing women to be largely dependent on men,” Khaity said, adding that this has been achieved through “political systems, social norms and religious institutions.”
“Obedience to men has often been linked to men's economic superiority and dominance, and consequently women's dependence on them. There are financial resources that women do not have access to.”
She added: “The war has deepened injustices, impoverished the majority of the population, increased the vulnerability of women and displaced millions – all of which have devastated Syrian society.
“As a result, many Syrian women have sought marriage with locals in host countries as a way to protect themselves, and often their families, from all kinds of abuse – especially in societies that have shown them hostility.”
Since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, which forced millions to flee abroad, Syrians in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan have repeatedly faced waves of violence and threats of deportation.
Douna Haj Ahmed, a British Syrian human rights activist, believes that this new status quo “has created a form of modern slavery where Syrian women are commodified and trafficked under the guise of marriage.”
She told Arab News that the marriage arrangements promoted on Iraqi social media “reduce women to mere objects for sale,” calling the phenomenon “a stark reminder of how conflict and poverty can lead to the re-emergence of exploitative systems similar to slavery.”
She added: “Such exploitation is not only unethical but deeply inhumane. Marriage should be founded on mutual respect and genuine affection, not on exploiting the needs of the more vulnerable party.”
Thirteen years of conflict and displacement have put Syrian women “in a class of their own,” Khaity said. “There is tolerance for the dehumanization of Syrian women, who are now perceived to have fewer rights.”
Both activists also believe that Syrian women have been commodified by deceptive TV dramas. Iraqi TikTok posts promoting marriage to Syrian women even include clips from controversial Syrian shows that portray damascened women as part of an obedient, observant harem.
Khaity says the drama genre known in Syria as “Al-Bi'a Al-Shamiyeh” – or the Damascene culture – has propagated an “untrue, historically inaccurate and unjust image of Syrian women and their role in society.”
Since the 1990s, many Syrian dramas have portrayed the women of the damascene as ravishing beauties with an innate talent for cooking, household management, and seduction. They rush to attend to their men's needs, rub their feet, shower them with affection and even hand feed them.
The popularity of Syrian drama series in the Arabic-speaking world has played a significant role in creating and reinforcing such harmful stereotypes.
“For decades, Syrian drama has perpetuated an image of the Syrian woman as the obedient servant of her husband, whose life revolves around meeting his needs by cooking and cleaning during the day, and pampering and enjoying herself at night,” says Haj Ahmed.
“This negative portrayal has reinforced outdated and misleading ideas about women's roles in Syrian society.”
Haj Ahmed said that amid difficult economic circumstances, “many young men in Arab countries have seen the war in Syria as an opportunity to fulfill unhealthy desires for marriage.
“They have exploited the vulnerability of Syrian girls caused by war and poverty, forcing some Syrian families to make hard compromises and accept any suitor for their daughters in a desperate attempt to ease the family's financial burden.”
She added that the social media trend promoting Syrian brides for $100 “goes beyond discrimination and hate speech” to “reflect the patriarchal mentality that objectifies women, especially in times of war and disaster.
“This story confirms that women are among the first to suffer in such situations. What Syrian women are experiencing is a recurring scenario for women in all conflict areas.”
