Zerin Kurtay - Roksan Efrin/JINHA

QAMÎŞLO - Members of the Arab Women's Delegation in Rojava say they are stepping up their work to organize women in the region.

Arab women living in the Rojava autonomous area of Syria have taken an active role in building the revolution in the region and taken part in revolutionary institutions alongside other ethnic groups. At the same time, they have organized themselves into their own autonomous organizations.

According to delegation member Miy Ahmed Hemod, the closed-off nature of Arab society in the region long made women's organizing difficult, but the prominent role of women in the Rojava revolution has changed this. The Arab Women's Delegation, founded in 2011 along with the Rojava revolution, is one of the Arab women's organizations in the region.

"When [the delegation] was first founded, it wasn't very active and it couldn't develop its work much because women's identities were closed-off," said Miy. However, in 2013 women decided to change this. Now, the group travels to Arab villages, getting in touch with women and setting up consciousness-raising activities. Miy works on the delegation in the canton of Cizîrê, the easternmost canton of Rojava.

"As the Arab Women's Delegation, we develop projects for women and children," said Miy. "We're at work so that they don't have to experience the same pain we did."

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