A narrative approach to displacement, gender and conflict: motivations of Kurdish women to leave Syria in times of lawlessness

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article investigates the stories of Syrian Kurdish women who settled in Scandinavia during the Syrian war, which caused millions of people to leave their houses, families, and country. Although a considerable body of research exists on migration and gender in general, there is much less research available about the motivation for migration out of war and conflict and its gendered aspects. What reasons do Kurdish women give for their escape or migration from Syria? How do they talk about the options they had and the final decision to leave? Based on biographic interviews, it appears that the decision to leave Syria permanently was often a longer process of weighing options, that these decisions were often gendered in that they are different for women and for men, and that they were related to earlier histories of mobility. For women, the social consequences of leaving the home, staying and travelling need to be morally thought through within the context of a heteronormative society. By combining a narrative methodology with the gender regime theory and social meanings of migration, this article provides tools for analysing migration decisions and their gendered motivations, connecting individual motivations to macro level social forces.