Reports | 25 05 2020
Under the scorching sun and amid the hustle and bustle, Kawthar stands astride one of the main intersections in the city center of Afrin north of Aleppo, where she organizes traffic and controls the passing vehicles.
Kawthar [25 years old] started to work for the traffic police corps of Kurdish "self-management" on the eighth of March, marking International Women's Day.
Kawthar tells Rozana: "When I learned about my friends joining this work, I had been submerged in the humdrum routine of housewives—cooking and child care. But as soon as I started to work as a traffic policewoman in the street and in front of people; I felt that my life has changed, and that I have accomplished new and big things."
Wrong Timing!
Women joining the traffic police has been a major challenge for Kawthar and her colleagues; as there are those who accept it with an open mind, while others found it new and surprising. That has not prevented Kawthar from going about her work.
The participation of women alongside men in the organization of traffic was, for example, new to Abdo, the policeman who assists Kawthar at the same traffic point. He finds it a very good step; yet also believes that it is still too early for women to work on the street. Roads are not sufficently safe, and drivers are as of yet unprepared to understand such a phenomenon.
Following in the Footsteps of Women Fighters!
Shirin Kadib Al-Ban, Head of the Women's Traffic Police Department [WTPD], confirms that "Women can equal men in all walks of life," citing the example of Kurdish female fighter Aren Merxan, who was killed in the Ayn Arab [Kobanî] battle between the Kurds and ISIS.
According to Shirin, the WTPD is under Asayish, associated with the "Self-Management's" Internal Department in Afrin. It presently comprises only four policewomen, and there are efforts to increase this number.