Governing through Neglect: Abandonment as Gender-Based Violence among Refugee Women in North Lebanon

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Abstract
This study examines how gender-based violence among Syrian refugee women in North Lebanon is shaped not only by interpersonal dynamics but also by political abandonment and fragmented governance. Drawing on trauma-informed qualitative interviews with seventeen Syrian refugee women in Tripoli and Akkar, the study uses a social-ecological and feminist political economy framework. Narrative analysis shows how chronic state absence normalizes violence and constrains women’s agency across everyday life. Participants described violence as embedded in daily survival, including navigating checkpoints, precarious informal labor, insecure housing, inaccessible healthcare, and limited pathways to justice. While displacement created some opportunities for autonomy, it also exposed women to new and intensified risks of violence. The findings position gender-based violence as a structural outcome of refugee governance and regional neglect, highlighting how violence becomes institutionally enabled and unevenly distributed across displaced communities.
Funding Information
  • the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy (CUNY SPH) Dean’s Dissertation Award

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