Syrian university restriction on female enrollment deepens concerns over women’s rights

Two newly established Syrian state universities specializing in defense and security have barred women from enrolling in most courses, in admission policies condemned as discriminatory by Human Rights Watch (HRW), according to reports and statements from Damascus.

Syria’s Higher Education Ministry announced on September 30 that admission to law, economics and management, and social sciences programs at the National University of Defense Sciences would be restricted to men. At the Syrian University for Security Sciences, women may apply only to cybersecurity programs. Meanwhile, several public universities specializing in kindergarten education, midwifery, and nursing are now admitting only female students.

Applications closed on Monday, and the admission rules are unchanged despite the controversy.

HRW warned that the restrictions violated Syria’s Constitutional Declaration and its international legal obligations, forming part of a “concerning pattern” of state actions restricting women’s roles in Syrian society and reinforcing gender stereotypes.

“Syria’s authorities are rebuilding the army and the security forces without women,” said Hiba Zayadin, senior Syria adviser at HRW. “Women can’t train as officers, and they can’t even study to be the army’s lawyers or administrators. This is discrimination, plain and simple.”

Although the September announcement has sparked international criticism, a former Higher Education Ministry official told Agence France-Presse last month that some gender-based admission policies had long been in place. However, excluding women from defense and security universities is a new development.

Many of the newly established defense universities, including the National University of Defense Sciences, require male students to commit to military service. This requirement does not apply to female students in the limited number of courses open to them.

Human Rights Watch noted that, despite the opening of the Women’s Police Institute, whose first class graduated in September, restrictions on women’s admission to most defense university courses have effectively denied them a pathway into the army.

The exclusion follows an August decision by Syrian authorities to bar members of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), the all-female component of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, from joining the army.

Restrictions extend beyond the defense and security sectors. State technical institutes specializing in oil and gas and railway studies also admit only male applicants.

The new Syrian authorities have also repeatedly raised questions about women’s roles in public life. In December 2024, a government spokesperson suggested that women might be biologically unsuited to certain political roles and said their ability to serve as judges “could be an area of study and research for specialists.” The following month, the governor of Latakia banned female state employees from wearing “excessive” makeup, threatening legal action against those who failed to comply.

“Women are underrepresented in parliament, the police, and some public offices, and are now shut out of the army,” Zayadin said. “The authorities have promised to respect women’s rights, but their actions directly contradict those promises. Women’s full participation, in all roles and sectors, is essential to building a brighter future for Syria.”

Sally Obeid, a founding member of the Syrian Christian Congress, condemned the admission rules on X, insisting that Damascus’s “goal” was “to kill women’s minds, clone Taliban policies, and confiscate Syrian women’s right to seats in engineering and law.”