Jin, Jiyan, Azadî. Can feminism transform law? The case of Rojava

Abstract

This research examines how the Kurdish women’s movement in Rojava has redefined the relationship between feminism, law, and democratic self-governance through the framework of Jineolojî. Drawing on eight semi-structured interviews, with Kurdish women active in different sectors of the Women’s Revolution, as well as one international activist, the study explores how feminist ideas have been translated into legal, political, military, and social institutions within the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The findings show that women’s liberation functions both as the foundation and the driving force of broader social and political transformation. Rather than conceptualising women’s rights as isolated legal reforms, the movement challenges patriarchal, capitalist, and colonial structures by developing alternative legal and political institutions and a model of democratic self-governance beyond the nation-state. The study argues that law becomes transformative only when embedded within collective organisation, autonomous women’s institutions, and democratic participation. By centring Kurdish women’s own perspectives, the research contributes to feminist legal scholarship and demonstrates how anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, and feminist principles can be translated into concrete legal institutions and everyday political practice.