Although the vulnerability of refugee women is a cornerstone of access to protection, it is rarely defined beyond its common-sense meaning - the risk of suffering harm. This article presents the results of an empirical research where 12 life histories were collected from Syrian refugee women responsible for supporting their families in Lebanon (7) and Québec (5). The analysis mobilized the concept of ambivalent vulnerability (Oliviero, 2016) and showed that women and their relatives were certainly exposed to forms of adversity, but also to transformative opportunities and to elements of continuity with their life trajectories.