Syria Today | Follow the Women in Syria

Follow the Women in Syria

Some 250 women from 21 countries, including 35 from Syria, took part in the annual ‘Follow the Women’ event which passed through Syria from October 12 to 14.

The event, sponsored by MTN Syria and the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs, aims to improve the status of women and children in the Middle East, especially those living under occupation in Palestine and the Occupied Golan Heights. The event also builds links between women living in the Middle East and those living in other countries, especially the US and UK.

This year’s trail included Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories. The Syrian leg included rides around Lattakia, Homs and Dera’a.

This is the fifth bicycle journey by the British Follow the Women organisation, founded in 2001 by European Woman of the Year Detta Regan. The women embarked on their first bike journey in April 2004.

“We were told that we would not be able to do it because women do not ride bicycles in the Middle East,” Regan said at a press conference in Damascus on October 7. “They said men would throw stones at us and it was too dangerous. That just made us more determined to do it, to show the women in the region that we were not afraid and that we stood with them. In the end the men gave us flowers and let us kiss their children.”

Speaking at the same press conference, MTN Syria Communications Manager Ammer Kassar said the event promoted “the real image” of Syrian women.