Dr. Raufa Hassan, believed to be the first female journalist in Yemen has died today in Egypt where she was hospitalized since mid of last year. She will be buried in Yemen after her body will arrive tomorrow.
نعت نقابة الصحفيين اليمنيين وفاة الإعلامية القديرة الدكتورة رؤوفة حسن التي وافاها الأجل في أحد مستشفيات القاهرة.
وأكدت النقابة أن جثمان الفقيدة سيصل غدا إلى صنعاء وسيتم تحديد موعد الدفن ومكان العزاء في وقت لاحق.
She has been nothing but outstanding figure in Yemen and to the whole world. She’s often described as a noted academic and human rights activist and prominent Yemeni feminist.
She was Professor of Mass Media and Director of the Women's Studies Center, which she also founded, at the University of Sana'a. She was a leading advocate of women's rights and democratization; she wrote a regular newspaper column for many years, directed a program that registered women voters throughout Yemen and has played a key role in training women candidates for Parliament and local councils. She also worked with such diverse international programs as UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNESCO, Oxfam and the National Endowment for Democracy. Her work has focused on the advancement of human rights and dignity in Yemen, the Middle East, and the world.
Here is a piece about her by Mr. Zaid Al-Alaya, editor in chief of Yemen Today magazine
She is a human rights activist, a professor of media studies, and the first female journalist in Yemen. She is Dr. Raufa Hassan, who is at the center of all women’s issues in the country.
Hassan’s life demonstrates a lifelong devotion to women’s issues, on both theoretical and practical levels. Much of her work has been concerned with creating equality between the genders in Yemen especially when it comes to her devotion to women issues. This importance comes from her wide interest and concern-theoretically and practically- with civil society organizations where a woman gets all her rights enabling her participate effectively in social activities propping its basics based on equal partnership in the life equation on pairs and individuals.
She finished her secondary school and traveled to Cairo, where she got her bachelor degree in media from the Journalism Department of Cairo University. She then went to the United States of America and got a master’s degree in 1984.
In 1991, she earned a PhD in communications from Paris and returned to Yemen to put her knowledge in use. In 1996, she founded the first Center of Women’s Studies in Yemen at the University of Sana’a, after she was initially expelled for her work on gender issues. Regarding the reason why she was expelled from Sana’a University, he said that she was the victim of ideological conflict. “She came with the notion of gender in a time when people doesn’t know what is it.” said Nabil al-Sofi, chief editor of newsyemen website and one of her former students.
She later founded her own Independent research and philanthropic center, called the Cultural Development Planning Foundation (CDPF). Her foundation is still active and she carries on work in a lot of projects involving culture, women’s issues, national unity, and others.
She is also working on good governance, her foundation engaged in partnership with the American University in Cairo to do social researches about Yemen, Immigration project and the last one is creating women movement in Yemen united with unified agenda.
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قالت الدكتورة رؤفة حسن في تصريح خاص لـ"26سبتمبرنت" في العام الماضي ان القضية ليست امة نصفها يعتدي علي النصف الأخر وكلاً يتهم الأخر بذلك و أنمسالة المرأة اكبر بكثير من ان نتهم جنس في هذا المجتمع بانه هو الظالم وحدة للمجتمع الأخر .. وأضافت يجب أن نفهم بان المطلوب منا جميعا رجالا ونساء ان نكون امة تعيش و تتعايش بسلام وتقاوم الالم والتقليل من شان الانسان الاخر امة اتخذت الديمقراطية سبيل لها ..مشيرةً إلى انه لايمكن ان تكون هناك ديمقراطية صحيحة في ظل تمايز بين الجنسين- كمواطنين- واحد له أهلية وأخر فاقدها .. موضحةً ان ذلك التمايز ليس للدين ولا للحضارة ولا للثقافة يد فيه وان ماهو حاصل من ظلم للمرآة هو بسبب التمسك بافكار قديمة في وقت نعيش فيه الزمن الديمقراطي و المجتمع المدني والمساواة والقانون ..
واردفت هذا الزمن المعاش ليس له علاقة بمؤثرات الماضي الا باعتبارها مؤثرات و الدعوة للتحديث هي دعوة للتخلي عما هو ظالم وغير عادل للعباد والبلاد ..
مشيرة إلى ان الرجال عندما يظلمون امهاتهم هم بذلك يظلمون أنفسهم من حيث لا يشعرون وكذلك النساء ينطبق عليهن ذلك في مسالة ظلم بعضهن البعض
وقالت لا يمكن تطبيق نظام الدولة الحديثة باقليات وأنا اسمي هذا العصر بانه عصر الدولة الحديثة التي نبحث عنها جميعا .
