Sorgul Şexo-Jinda Azad/JINHA

TIL TEMIR - In spite of her hardships, Rojava resident Gulîxan Tahir is determined to keep going. The women's rights activist is raising her four children herself while also taking part in the Rojava revolution.

The patriarchal understanding of the world may attempt to force women to pay the price for war and oppression, but this attitude inevitablyruns aground in the face of women's resistance. Gulîxan Tahir's story is a story of this kind of resistance.

Gulîxan lives in the city of Til Temir, in the Cizîrê Canton of the Rojava autonomous region.When Al-Nusra gangs exploded a vehicle on the road to Hasakah, Gulîxan lost her husband Ebdilah Dawud in the blast. This left Gulîxan to raise four children. However, women's solidarity in Rojava has kept her going.

Gulîxan grew up as one of ten brothers and sisters in a poor working-class family. Her father only allowed her to go to school until the 9th grade. By the time she turned nine, her father was forbidding her to leave the house, as he did with her other sisters. Gulîxan was sent to her village, where she began working in "men's jobs" at a young age.

When Gulîxan returned from the village to the city of Til Temir five years later, her father forced her to marry a man she did not choose at the age of 21. When the Rojava revolution swept through the region, Gulîxan immediately began to take part in the process of the building of democratic autonomous institutions.

"One of these institutions was the Yekîtiya Star organization in Til Temir," said Gulîxan. She quickly became involved in the women's group, while her husband became involved in the new arts and culture projects. Gulîxan said she and her husband were not just spouses, but "like friends," and that his death on June 2, 2014 deeply affected her. Now, she raises her four children with the help of women's solidarity, as she works for women's rights as a member of Yekîtiya Star.

"All women need to take part in society and its institutions because we have gone through such pain," said Gulîxan. "Until we succeed, until all our country is free, I will stand up for all women and for the memory of my husband."

(rb/şg/gc/cm)