Dissertations and Theses
Date of Degree
6-5-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Community Health and Social Sciences
Advisor(s)
Spring Cooper
Committee Members
Kathleen Cravero
Jasmin Lilian Diab
Subject Categories
Public Health | Women's Health
Keywords
Refugee Health, Syrian Refugee Women, Gender-based Violence, Tripoli and Akkar in Lebanon
Abstract
Lebanon is a country that suffers from multiple economic, political, and health crises. Additionally, the mass displacement of Syrian refugees to Lebanon after the war in Syria over a decade ago has left Syrian refugees vulnerable, including the vulnerability of Syrian refugee women to gender-based violence (GBV). While these conditions have affected all of Lebanon, this dissertation focuses on the regions of Tripoli and Akkar in northern Lebanon. Tripoli and Akkar are regions that border Syria, which means that an influx of Syrian refugees, mostly unregistered, comes in. While other regions in Lebanon also border Syria, Tripoli and Akkar are characterized by a marked disconnect from the central government and a lack of security and governmental intervention. These conditions give rise to a culture of impunity on GBV against Syrian refugee women. While much research exists on the impact of GBV on Syrian refugee women in Lebanon, there is little research on the nature of GBV for Syrian refugee women in Tripoli and Akkar. I qualitatively explore how distinct and interrelated aspects of physical, political, economic, and social environments make up the GBV ecology for Syrian refugee women in Tripoli and Akkar. This dissertation aims to contribute to understanding the complexities of GBV by shedding light on an underrepresented group that has been excluded from GBV research and, notably, from trauma-informed research. In the upcoming chapters, I qualitatively explore the GBV ecology for Syrian refugee women in Tripoli and Akkar. I begin by exploring the experiences and interpretation of GBV with Syrian refugee women in Tripoli and Akkar using narrative analysis of trauma-informed, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 Syrian refugee women (aim 1). I then identify and describe Syrian refugee women’s perceptions and beliefs related to GBV and GBV services using framework analysis of the same in-depth semi-structured interviews (aim 2). Finally, I identify and describe key stakeholders’ understandings of facilitators and barriers to comprehensive GBV service provision and protection in northern Lebanon using thematic analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with 14 key stakeholders in academia, international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Furthermore, one year after data collection, I conducted two focus group discussions, one in Tripoli and one in Akkar, as part of a validity checking exercise with the study participants in line with participatory research aspects. Drawing on the different chapters of the dissertation, the integrated findings point to distinct and interrelated aspects of the GBV ecology for Syrian refugee women in Tripoli and Akkar. First, the political economy of Lebanon creates a conducive environment for GBV. Second, an observed lack of protection that limits Syrian refugee women’s agency against GBV. Third, GBV looks different in the regions of Tripoli and Akkar than in other parts of Lebanon, pointing to the importance of understanding these region-specific realities in designing tailored interventions. Finally, displacement to Lebanon created new positive cultural realities for Syrian refugee women, but it exposed them to new types of GBV risks. This study seeks to understand the GBV ecology of Syrian women refugees, which may further change in the future, given the most recent armed conflict in Lebanon and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in late 2024, which happened after data collection for this dissertation.
Recommended Citation
Masoud, Dima, "The Ecology of Gender-based Violence for Syrian Refugee Women in Tripoli and Akkar" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/sph_etds/115
