Typically, Syrian women do not pursue higher education due to cultural norms and gender roles within the country.

Traditionally, Syrian women are educated until they’re 18, then expected to be caregivers at home.

Syrian women do not typically work outside the home within an external institution or business.

Syrian women cannot work within mixed-gender environments, which creates a barrier for them to enter informal and formal job markets that require working from outside of the home.

Once the war began, Syrians felt intense fear for safety, extreme uncertainty, lost personal possessions, and were heartbroken as they mourned the loss of their community.

Due to the immeasurable destruction of the war, members of the Syrian population continue to experience PTSD and trauma which impacts their ability to navigate life, build relationships, and invest in the future for themselves and their families.

Temporary Protection Status is granted to both identified and unidentified Syrians who flee to Turkey.

TPS grants displaced Syrians fundamental rights and services needed to live within Turkey and protects Syrians from being forcibly returned to Syria.

TPS provides access to services such as healthcare, education, social assistance, psychological guidance, and access to the labour market.

Husbands and Fathers were lost or injured in the war which has led Syrian families to depend on wives and mothers to be over-time caregivers while stepping into new roles, like managing familial finances.

Other Syrians decided not to leave their home country in order to take care of elderly family members who don’t have the physical ability to leave Syria.

These situations have resulted in dispersed families spread between Syria and Turkey, and without the presence of loved ones who didn’t survive which has weakened family networks and communal identity.

Displaced Syrians experience poor access to educational opportunities in Turkey which harms family income and causes an increase in child labor and the marrying off of young daughters to relieve financial stress on the family, but creates emotional tension.

Institutions in Turkey designated to help displaced Syrian families are severely underfunded, understaffed, and don’t adequately meet the needs of Syrians.

Materials provided to Syrians are often in Turkish, and not Arabic which emphasizes language barriers and educational gaps.

Because institutions are underfunded and understaffed ( see 4B ) displaced Syrians are confronted with insufficient Turkish language training which generates larger gaps in knowledge and interferes with educational placement tests that would allow for Syrians to continue their education.

During this time, Syrian women are taking on new responsibilities like managing family-finances while balancing with traditional gender roles which include being the housekeeper, helping to organize family needs, cooking family meals, and being the primary caregiver to children and extended family members while navigating the Turkish cultural environment without the support of their beloved Syrian community.

Syrian men are faced with a lack of access to the formal labor market due to missing personal identification, unapproved work permits, language barriers, and an overarching ‘anti-refugee’ sentiment shared by Turkish citizens.

This ‘anti-refugee’ mindset of Turkish citizens comes from the idea that Turkish residents now have to compete for resources and jobs due to the influx of displaced Syrians. This dynamic creates tension between the two parties and contributes to the feelings of otherness that Syrians feel.

Section 7 is our team goal for displaced Syrians, with an emphasis on designing for Syrian women.

We want to design a service that would allow for equal educational opportunities, stable life resources, and employment opportunities without child labor.