What happens when becoming the head of a household is not a choice, but a consequence of war?

In this Refugee Archive Roundtable webinar, host Ruth Adeyeye speaks with Wasim Dia, Syrian researcher and refugee studies scholar, about his paper The Experience of Newly Formed Syrian Female-Headed Household Refugees in Egypt: Challenges and Opportunities. Drawing on interviews with Syrian refugee women living in Alexandria, Egypt, Wasim explores what happens when displacement abruptly transforms women into the primary providers, caregivers, and decision-makers for their families.

Unlike long-established female-headed households, the women in this study entered these roles suddenly—through conflict, death, separation, disappearance, and forced migration. At the same time they were coping with loss and displacement, they were also expected to navigate unfamiliar legal systems, find income, care for children, and rebuild their lives in a country they never intended to call home.

The conversation examines how displacement reshapes family structures, gender roles, employment opportunities, and social relationships. It also highlights the less visible consequences of exile: loneliness, the loss of professional identity, community stigma, and the emotional burden of carrying a family through uncertainty.

Throughout the discussion, Wasim reflects not only as a researcher, but as a Syrian refugee himself—bringing a personal understanding of the realities faced by the women whose stories form the foundation of his research.

What You'll Hear in This Webinar

00:00 Introduction — Syrian women becoming heads of households through war and displacement10:20 Sarah’s story: survival, illness, and rebuilding life in Egypt16:10 Informal work, loneliness, and the realities of refugee survival35:00 Patriarchy, motherhood, and what female-headed households reveal about displacement

Why This Research Matters

Discussions about refugees often focus on numbers: how many people crossed a border, how many families were displaced, how many remain in exile.

But statistics rarely capture what happens inside a household when conflict removes a spouse, a father, or a primary source of support.

This research shows that female-headed households are not simply economic units. They are families navigating grief, responsibility, social judgment, and institutional barriers all at once. The women interviewed in this study reveal how displacement reshapes identity, authority, caregiving, and survival itself.

Their experiences remind us that refugee policy is not only about movement across borders—it is also about the everyday realities of rebuilding life after loss.

About The Series

The Refugee Archive Roundtable is a webinar series bringing together scholars, university teams, and researchers whose work examines female-headed households and displaced single mothers worldwide to connect academic insights with real-world global impact.

In this episode of The Refugee Archive Roundtable, we host a critical discussion on the paper "Prolonging the Temporary: Female-Headed Syrian Refugee Households on Displacement, Return and Waiting post-Assad". Featured guests Dr. Jasmin Lilian Diab and Assma Awkal unpack the complex lived experiences and migration decisions of Syrian women navigating protracted displacement in Lebanon. Moving beyond oversimplified narratives of passive victimhood, their research utilizes feminist theory and intersectionality to show how these women act as strategic agents of resilience. The conversation explores how the absence of a male spouse, ongoing socioeconomic precarity, and the systemic threat of patriarchal violence shape deeply complex choices regarding voluntary return, irregular migration, and the painful state of "waiting" for resettlement. This webinar highlights the urgent need for gender-responsive global refugee policies that prioritize the protection of vulnerable, female-led householdsTimestamps00:00 Welcome to The Refugee Archive Roundtable03:15 Shifting Paradigms: From Passive Victims to Agents of Resilience08:40 The Reality of "Waiting" as an Active Migration Strategy14:10 Why the Fall of the Assad Regime Exacerbated Uncertainty for Women19:55 Designing Gender-Responsive Refugee Policies & Protecting Single MothersAbout The SeriesThe Refugee Archive Roundtable is a webinar series bringing together scholars, university teams, and researchers whose work examines female-headed households and displaced single mothers worldwide to connect academic insights with real-world global impact.

When a woman becomes the head of a household, is she more vulnerable—or is the system failing her?

In this Refugee Archive Roundtable webinar, host Ruth Adeyeye speaks with Azwar Surahman (PhD Candidate, Gadjah Mada University) and Kristi Dawn Riggs (Doctoral Candidate, Georgetown University) to unpack a decade of global research on female-headed household vulnerability.

Drawing from 94 studies across multiple regions, this conversation challenges common assumptions. Vulnerability is not just about income—it is shaped by structural inequality, access to resources, and how institutions define and respond to women’s lives.

From displacement to rural isolation, from financial exclusion to climate shocks, the discussion reveals how layered and interconnected these realities are.

What You’ll Learn

* What “female-headed household” actually means across contexts

* Why vulnerability goes beyond poverty and income

* How structural inequalities shape women’s access to resources

* The limits of data and why lived experiences are often missing

* What governments, NGOs, and communities can do differently

Key Insight

Female-headed households are not inherently vulnerable.Vulnerability emerges from systems that fail to support them.

Why This Matters

As the number of female-headed households grows globally—due to conflict, migration, and economic change—how we define and measure vulnerability directly impacts who receives support.

This conversation asks a deeper question:Are we measuring women’s realities—or simplifying them?

This webinar is part of the Refugee Archive Roundtable, a live series bringing together scholars whose research helps us better understand issues affecting female-headed households and displaced single mothers worldwide.