It is said that death at the hands of a woman deters a martyr from entering paradise. One third of all Kurdish fighters in Western Kurdistan are women. Unafraid of death and fulfilled by their passion for their homeland and their love for their families and people, these women muster up the courage to face the heavily armed IS in Syria. One of their most recent victories includes the recapturing of the City of Kobane in northern Syria from the IS. These women refuse to succumb to the patriarchal view of the role of women that regards women as objects, trapped in their homes, and upholding the family’s honor. It is without exaggeration to say that one could describe the current Kurdish feminist movement viewed from a military, ideological, and organizational perspective as the world’s strongest movement on behalf of the rights of women. This series by Sonja Hamad entitled Jin – Jiyan – Azadi (Women, Life, Freedom) pays them homage.
