GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations' refugee agency says more than 145,000 Syrian refugee families in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan are headed by women who are the sole caregivers.
The agency's report says the women's struggles to maintain one of every four refugee family households in those nations often includes coping with the threat of violence or exploitation and grappling with their children's mounting trauma and distress.
The report Tuesday by the Geneva-based agency is based on the accounts of 135 women interviewed over three months earlier this year. All had taken sole responsibility for their families after their men were killed, captured or otherwise separated.
The biggest difficulty the women say they face is their inability to pay rent, provide food and other basic household items, and lack of paid work.