Syrian Women Not Dependent
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It is often assumed that women migrating to a new country do so with their husbands and are economically dependent on them. There is a need to break this chain-link hypothesis of the young man coming first. Many Syrian women worked hard and saved up to travel to be with their husbands in the US and on finding out that not everything was the way it seemed left them and charted their own course, like Sultana Alkezin who left her husband after she found out he was cheating on her and moved to Atlantic city making a living selling linens (p. 41). They also saved up and sent their daughters first, following them when they had enough money. These women were not meek, they had experience standing on their own two feet, like Tabsharani who moved from her village to work in a silk factory and then onward to the US and Canada, establishing herself as one of the most successful independent traders in the region. Many of them were widowed early, but continued to provide for their families through peddling and selling embroidery, like Margaret Malooley who was proud of not needing anyone's help not even the governments (p.44). These women often had experience doing wage labour in Syria and running households without a husband or male relative.