Yemeni Women: Making the Most of the Space Available

(C) Reuters: Sana'a, 2011. 

During my early childhood in Sana’a, in the 1990s, the idea of gender equality was confusing to me. On the one hand, my mother was teaching me how women must fight for their rights. On the other hand, outside of the home, concepts like “gender equality” or “feminism” were portrayed in a negative light. I recall that, in secondary school, our female teacher told our class how “equality” between the sexes was a notion manufactured by the West to destroy Arab and Muslim communities. I also recall how my religious neighbour urged me to accompany her to a women-only Quran study group in the nearby mosque. We would go and listen to a sheikha (female religious leader) explaining how “gender equality” and “feminism” were against Islam, and how Allah wanted men and women to have different and unequal roles and responsibilities.

Raufa Hassan. 

When I started college, however, I became exposed to a different kind of discourse about women’s rights. Both the independent press and events about women’s rights, organised by pro-democracy local civil society organizations (CSOs), opened my eyes to Yemen’s feminist women. Women’s rights advocates in political positions or leading CSOs, such as Radhya Shamsheer, Amat al-Alim Alsoswa, Raufa Hassan, or Amal Basha, speaking eloquently about women’s activism in Yemen, have all been crucial in shaping my feminist consciousness. They were working on issues like child marriage, gender-based violence, discriminatory laws, and women’s political participation, among many other things.


The word feminism, though, was not always explicitly used because it was dangerous and antagonising.

For instance, in 1999, leading feminist figure Raufa Hassan was subjected to an aggressive religious attack over her work and was eventually forced to leave the country. The anti-feminist backlash from some influential religious members of parliament and conservative clerics compelled most feminists to adopt a more pragmatic approach to their activism and to use less antagonising labels, such as women’s empowerment advocates. Only a handful would fearlessly continue to call themselves feminists. They were all involved in the same feminist struggle, to be sure.

Yemen’s modern history has never seen a coherent and consistent women’s movement, but rather temporary and fragmented movements with different priorities, such as women’s struggle against human rights violations, and feminists’ focus on combating patriarchal tribal structures that discriminated against women. They all stemmed from genuine concerns for human rights and democracy.

In the country’s modern history, three major events have influenced these struggles and women’s political rights: 1) the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990, 2) Yemen’s uprising in 2011, and 3) the war that has been ongoing since 2015.

When the two Yemeni states unified in 1990, a reform of the family law took place that was considered an advancement for Northern and a setback for Southern women, as the South had already introduced more progressive women’s rights than the North, for instance, legal equality in family affairs.

Then, in the wake of the 2011 uprising, women fought hard for greater and more effective political participation, eventually achieving an unprecedented 30 per cent quota for women in Parliament.


Women also took part in the Constitution Drafting Committee for the first time in the State’s history.



WHERE WOMEN’S POLITICAL RIGHTS STAND TODAY


Yet, today, all these advancements in the name of women’s rights have been eroded. As the four-year-long war rages on, the political system as a whole has descended into chaos and the push for women’s representation has shifted from political institutions to diplomacy and advocacy.

During the time from the Houthis’ takeover of Sana’a in September 2014 to the Saudi-led military intervention in 2015, the formal political process has ground to a halt. Militarisation has meant a significant loss for women’s political voice and role in decision-making. In fact, the discussion of women’s political rights in Yemen right now, in its current apocalyptic state, seems an extravagant thought.

The conflict has made Yemen the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Millions of lives are threatened by famine, but the heaviest toll is taken on women and girls of childbearing age. Females are facing a rise in child marriages and a 63 per cent increase in violence against them. With dozens of women detainees held in Houthi rebel prisons, facing torture and abuse, the conflict has destroyed some of the tribal safeguards that protected women from abduction or imprisonment. In Taiz, women activists are a target of Houthi bullets. Across many cities, women agonise over their missing male relatives and are barely able to feed their starving children.

What I lament the most is that pre-war Yemen, with all its institutional injustices against women, had nevertheless overtaken Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in its advancement of women’s rights – progress that today is basically undone. Over the course of the Yemeni war, women in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have witnessed some positive developments, such as the lifting of the driving ban in Saudi Arabia and an increase in women’s political representation in the UAE, while Yemenis are facing the decline of their rights and freedoms. This is a very important comparison as the disastrous bombing of Yemen is carried out by no other than its neighbours: Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Independent press and CSOs have disappeared as a venue to raise awareness about women’s empowerment. Journalists, activists and aid workers have been harassed, attacked, and/or made to disappear by all warring parties. The space for civil action has shrunk drastically. Voices that dare to speak out in support of women’s rights are effectively being silenced.

WOMEN ARE FIGHTING BACK

Yemen Peace talks in Kuwait, 2016.

Meanwhile, women are pushing back. At the grassroots level, with some 12,000 men arrested and more than 3,000 forcibly disappeared, mothers, sisters, and daughters of those abducted have begun to gather in front of the central prison or police stations across major Yemeni cities in search of their sons, fathers, or brothers. They have organised themselves as a collective named “Mothers of Abductees Association.” At the political level, UN Women has supported the establishment of the Yemeni Women’s Pact for Peace and Security, which calls for women’s inclusion in the political dialogue and peace process.

In addition, Yemeni women’s political activism has been supported by the three UN Special Envoys for Yemen, Jamal Ben Omar, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and currently Martin Griffiths, over the past eight years. In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 – on the full involvement and equal participation of women in conflict resolution processes – Griffiths has ensured the presence of women in the Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait, Geneva, and Stockholm through consultancy groups.

WOMEN’S FUTURE


Even though Yemen has not witnessed a strong women’s movement in recent history, women have become an important pillar in the formation of a new democratic Yemen since the 2011 uprising. Their activism under the difficult circumstance of continuing conflict has played an important role in shedding light on gross human rights violations and in peace advocacy. The future of Yemeni women depends on the future of Yemen. Women activists will therefore not rest until the country is back on its feet and peace prevails. Within the space available to them, Yemeni women are looking to achieve something that is worth the world’s solidarity.

_____________________________________________________

*This article was written for and first published in Goethe Institute's website, on April 2019. 

A journalist or an activist?

To undermine female reporters' value, they are questioned if they are activists & not journalists. Whereas, that's never the case for male reporters. I wrote this for Daraj.com, awhile ago {In Arabic}.

In Yemen, women bear the brunt of a merciless war

Women in #Yemen are celebrating #IWD2018 spending days &
nights at the gas stations queues! via
@@SayaghiX

*While women around the world are today celebrating International Women's Day (IWD), Yemen's women hope simply that it will throw a spotlight on the unspeakable human suffering all genders are enduring across the country.

In fact, to celebrate women's rights today, in an apocalyptic situation like the one in Yemen, seems an extravagant thought. On the ground, women queue for hours in Sanaa to buy gas amid a fuel shortage, and in Taiz, women activists are a target of Houthi bullets. In Aden, women agonise over their missing male relatives, and in Hodeidah they are barely able to feed their starving little children.

Looking back, seven years ago, I wrote from Sanaa's focal point of the protests, dubbed "Change Square", on how women contributed to the anti-Saleh protests, celebrating IWD along with women across the world.

On that day, the women's protest was, to a large extent a political expression, reaffirming their political role in the uprising, and was not a specifically feminist expression.

Different political and anti-Saleh parties used women that day as a decorative tool to serve the parties' political agendas. However, many of the non-partisan and politically independent women, as I was myself, believed that bringing about a drastic political change would benefit women's rights in one way or another.

However, little did we know how the tide would turn, and how the brutal civil war to come would lead women to become this vulnerable.

Yemen has been ravaged by a vicious cycle of violence since mid-2014, impacting everyone, regardless of social class or gender, but the problems women, in particular, are facing continue to accumulate.

When I began working as a reporter at the Yemen Observer in Sanaa in 2008, I was assigned the women's issues beat. I was reporting on the high maternal mortality rate in the country, the epidemic of child marriage and the battle to legally ban it and violence against women.

The more I reported, the more I realised that - contrary to the stereotypes - the tribal culture in Yemen sees women as the backbone of the family and community across the country. That culture ensures their fair treatment.

Nonetheless, following Yemen's 1990 failed unification between the north and south, and the interference of political religious powers in the nation-building process, these factors have put women's rights at a disadvantage.

Women's biggest problems used to be the institutionalised gender discrimination and socioeconomic hardships as a result of Yemen's longstanding poor governance.

Today, however, their biggest problem is war. As Yemen has been ravaged by famine, cholera and bombardment, yesterday's problems seem like the good old days.

Nevertheless, most concerning to me is the vanishing state of justice in Yemen.

One UN report details how Yemen as a state has dissolved.

In Yemen before the war, in that relatively peaceful and stable country, gender equality was at the heart of the women's rights struggle.

Back then, Yemen's personal status law contained provisions that discriminate against women in relation to marriage, divorce, custody of children, and inheritance.

Today, in war-torn Yemen, the conflict has led the entire judicial system to collapse. There is no one solid, functioning judicial system in Yemen today. The country is on the verge of partition between north and south, and there is no coherent functioning judicial system ruling over both parts.

The Houthis in the north have forcefully and illegally controlled the judicial system and are committing serious human rights violations. Asmaa al-Omeissy, for example, was sentenced to death on charges of "terrorism". Meanwhile, in the south, extrajudicial killings have tragically become the norm in a climate of armed militiamen, with no justice ever being served to its victims.

In this grim situation, the country's women are one of the most neglected political groups. While they bear the brunt of the war, many are still manging political activism that needs our solidarity.

The "Mothers of Abductees Association", is doing great work, raising their voice against oppression and injustice. And to enhance Yemeni women's political representation in any potential peace talks, a group of Yemeni women under the name "Yemeni Women Peace Pact" supported by UN Women has been working since 2015 to enforce women's inclusion in peace talks.

With the recent appointment of a new UN special envoy Martin Griffiths, there's hope that international peace efforts in Yemen will take on a gender perspective, a demand Yemeni women peace activists outline in a letter to be sent to Griffiths today.

________________________________________________________

*This article was writtern for and firstly published on The New Arab website, March 8th 2018. 

Caught on video: 'Like asking if you’ll stop beating your wife’, Saudi ambassador dodges Yemen cluster bomb question

Saudi’s ambassador to US, Al-Saud tells us how misogyny is the mother's milk of militarism.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Prince Abdullah Al-Saud was asked, “will you continue to use cluster weapons in Yemen?” “This is like the question, ‘Will you stop beating your wife?’” Al-Saud responded, letting loose a bellowing laugh.

More lengthy video of the brave The Intercept reporters’ Zaid Jilani & Alex Emmons debate with Al-Saud can be watched below:

And Zaid Jilani & Alex Emmons' report on The intercept can be read here: https://goo.gl/qc2TVq 

Yemen & Image Politics: Weapon, Qat & Misogyny

*Visualization is an integral part of how we perceive the world, so visual images about Yemen do construct how Yemen is perceived. That’s the case, as well, in how Yemenis perceive each other. Having said that, I tackle Yemen and Image Politics on two levels. One, how western media use images to portray Yemen? Second, how Yemenis use images to narrate stories about each other. Between the misleading political image and misogynic image, images from Yemen are confusing.


Yemen’s Image in Western Media

It is difficult to tell when exactly the relationship between the western media and the Old Sana’a’s beautiful architecture began. That relationship was contagious that it was duplicated in the Arab media. No doubt that the Old Sana’a’s dazzling architecture is difficult to ignore; but as I just mentioned, it’s called the “Old” Sana’a; meaning that there is a new one. To box all Yemen, with all its cities and diversity, in a bunch of images from the Old Sana’a is not only doing injustice to the rest of Yemen’s cities and their beauty, but it also gives a flawed impression that Yemen is just the Old Sana’a. And when western media wants to dig deeper into Yemenis’ lives, it boxes their lives in limited topics about weapons, tribal culture and Qat, and other easy and repeated topics.


The image of an Arab has always been demeaned in Western media; we are told that we, Arabs are barbarians, terrorists and uncivilised. Yemen falls into that stereotyped image which perhaps can be summarised in the “Salmon Fishing in -the- Yemen” movie. The movie demonstrates to be one of the best movies that wrongly portray Yemen. It’s based on the novel with the same title for a novelist that has never been to Yemen. The movie crew, including the actors and the actresses never been to Yemen, as well. The movie was never shot in Yemen. How can we have a movie depicting a country without touching its ground for real is something I don’t understand!

Images’ Use among Yemenis

As movies are discussed, here is a Yemeni movie that’s one of the best movies that genuinely used images to relate to Yemenis. “I am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced” by the Yemeni filmmaker, Khadija al-Salami is a movie inspired by the book “I Am Nujood, Aged 10 and Divorced” which was about the real story of the Yemeni child Nujood who is believed to be the first Yemeni child to get divorced in Yemen. The movie was shot in Yemen and following its release has won several international awards. The movie is genuine and honest; its message is to raise awareness about the child marriage tragedy in Yemen. Unfortunately, the movie has not been shown in Yemen, due to the absence of established cinema and, most importantly, the consecutive occurrence of armed conflicts and violence, since the release date of the movie in 2014. This made politics dominate any intellectual and cultural debate in the country.

Media in Yemen is obsessed by a political debate that mainly revolves around today’s political leaders. For instance, topics that dominate media in Yemen are the states of the ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, president, Abdurabou Mansour Hadi, and Houthis’ leader, Abdelmalik al Houthi. Images about this or that political leader represent a mirror in which Yemenis see through each other. Polarisation is extreme and any middle ground is inevitably absent.

In this regard, one of the issues that concerned me the most is the issue of Misogyny and how images are used in Yemen’s political debate. Throughout the past 5 years, since the beginning of Yemen’s 2011 uprising, and along the way with my blogging experience, I found one pattern of a concept being repeated whenever images are used and meant to demean a political leader. That is, whenever any political camp wants to insult another political camp, the easiest thing to do is to portray him as a woman. For example, when ousted president Saleh is meant to be demeaned, he’s being portrayed with full make-up and jewellery so he can supposedly look like a woman. In that way, there is an association being drawn between a demeaned status for men and being a female; an expression of an insult is channelled by describing the other as a female.

I collected the following images over the past five years. As the political phases in Yemen develop, Yemen’s social media users seemed busy designing and posting these images - which sometimes found their way to the streets’ protests as posters. 

For lasting peace in Yemen, bring women to the table

"...Currently, Yemen is going through a third round of peace talks. Women’s voices have been absent from the peace talks so far. This unfairness threatens the sustainability of any deal that may be reached, and women are worried that any peace deal will be centred on a power-sharing formula instead of a socially responsible resolution leading to reparation for victims and affected communities. Now, once again, we are pushing for the inclusion of women. We will not stop our peaceful campaigns until our voices are heard and until our rights are implemented," writes the tireless magnificent Rasha Jarhum via LSE Middle East Centre. For full article, check here.

Co-Speaking With Nawal El Saadawi

Stockholm, winter, 2011 – This is the only picture I have with Dr. Nawal El Saadawi. I made sure to go early to her talk accompanied by my friend, Roya. As we were about to enter the building, Nawal was just arriving as well. Once our eyes faced each other at the gate, I screamed with joy. Wallahi I’m not kidding. I bet Nawal thought I was a crazy young lady. It didn’t matter what she thought about me. For me, I was and still star-struck. Ever since my feminist consciousness came to birth, that’s around 2008, she’s been one of my feminist heroes. I used to watch her, read her and think about her whenever I felt how society treat me in a peculiar way just because I was a female. I remember during my work at Yemen Observer in Sana’a (2009-2011), I used to wait till lunch time when the office gets empty so I can check Nawal on Youtube and watch some of her interviews. Back then, not many Arab TV channels used to host her and not many at my men-dominated office used to leave me alone if it happened that they watch me watching her on my computer, for she has always had provocative issues to rise. Anyhow, I love the internet for helping me & my generation to overcome such obstacles.


Sharing the stage with the legendary feminist writer like Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, later today is insane. Despite that ever since (and about) the Arab Spring, El Saadawi has been embracing ideas that I don’t agree on, speaking with her on Monday would be too good to be true. Can’t wait!

:: ~~|~~ :: where & when the talk will be: Today, Stockholm at Södra teatern at 7.00 pm, for more info see here.

Fail Better, Yemeni Women!

Photograph: Abdulrahman Jaber

It’s no longer Spring in Yemen. The consecutive upheavals have been nothing but stormy for all. Yemen is stuck in a vicious circle of failures. My generation has had to live with periodical armed conflicts and is trying to deal with the trauma. The trauma impacting women is especially complex because women suffer not only from everyday human rights violations but also gender-based violence and discrimination.

Photographs: Bushra Al-Fusail

For Yemen — the country ranked absolutely worst in the Global Gender Gap reportevery year since 2006 – the old imperfect reality for women might be considered the old good days.

Today’s reality is quite possibly the bleakest.

The latest upheaval is Houthi takeover of most of Yemen’s large cities. This has created an extreme sense of insecurity, fear and economic frustration. President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi hardly protected himself from the Houthi’s aggression, let alone ordinary citizens. Unquestionably, a critical implication of the Houthi’s new imposed social order is that all human rights are under threat in the cities controlled by them. Women’s rights are particularly endangered, unless Yemeni women reorganize with a clear (Islamic/secular) feminist conscious.

Dr. Raufa
Hassan. Photograph:
Abdulrahman Al-Ghabri

The F word, feminism, is taboo in Yemen. So is the word equality. And it’s really time to change that. I grew up being taught in primary school that equality was not in keeping with our culture and society; hence we must not discuss it. At mosques in the main Yemeni cities, brochures are distributed warning how equality is a sinful concept. As an adult, I was introduced to the concept of equality by local female pioneers such as Amal Basha and the late Dr. Raufa Hassan during seminars hosted by their organizations in Sana’a. I also realized how discussing gender equality was inconvenient for many. To talk about women’s rights, whether in times of stability or crisis, is considered irrelevant not only to anti-feminist groups, but also to those who consider themselves progressive leftist groups. I am certain that this essay won’t be attractive to many.

Yet women were the ones leading the uprising in 2011. Nobel laureate Tawakkol Karman is the most well-known example. The uprising represented an opportunity for female opinion leaders, activists, writers and intellectuals to challenge the social construction that was boxing them in and demeaning them.

Historical day for women's political participation, but?

Yemen's president Hadi announced today the new government and the list of the new ministers include four women, which marks a historical event for women's political participation, after having three women ministers in 2011. It's the first time ever that Yemen gets to have this big number of women ministers in the same time.


The four ministers are:

1. Yemen's first English speaking newspaper, The Yemen Times' owner, Nadia Al Sakkaf is now Yemen's minister of Information. 

2. Veteran Culture and Human Rights, and super outspoken opinion leader, Arwa Othman is now Yemen's Culture minister.

3. Diligent civic rights activist, Gabool Al-Mutawakel is now the Social Affairs and Labour minister. (UPDATE: Gabool rejected the post as a minister)

4. Gender issues advocate, dr. Samira Obaid is now a state minister and member of the new cabinet.


However, this number doesn't meet the already assigned 30% quota for women emerging from the National Dialogue Conference (NDC). If things went as planned resolutions from the "semi-institution", the NDC, we should have seen 10 or 11 women ministers out of today's 35 members (ministers) in that list. Accordingly, it's distressing to observe that president Hadi's plan along with the prime minister, Bahah's move with selecting the women ministers was only to satisfy their political parties and not to hold on to an egalitarian construction. I need to be skeptical in order to comprehend the feminist exploitation here. There could be a clear signal that granting women's political rights (incompletely) is only to articulate that the country is going with its democratic process, and overlooking the fundamental gender inequalities.

All in all, I rejoice today's news, hoping for more happy news to come, for women and Yemen. I'm very proud of these women because I know some of them in person and I know how much of warriors they are. My skepticism is only there because I'm certain that there is so much to be done ahead and more critical thinking can enhance the progress. Also, you never know what will happen tomorrow. This list might be removed. Things can change in a second, in Yemen.  

Aliah, a former child bride shares her tragic story

Courtesy Oxfam

"In Yemen, around a third of girls are married before 18. Aliah, a former child bride, is just one of many. Amal Alariqi, Oxfam's media officer, shares Aliah's empowering story and why child marriage must be stopped.

"I'll never forget the screams of my daughter while she was delivering her baby. She was only 16 years old," recalled Aliah Abdo Mohammed, a 32 year old mother from Western Yemen.

"She was crying and asking me why I forced her to marry. She'd rather die...."" -Oxfam 

Yemeni Law Considers Wives As Private Property of Their Husbands

"This is part of a new raising awareness campaign on wifes' legal rights called, #DoYouKnow done by by The uprising of women in the Arab world. The poster says: #DoYouKnow that the Yemeni Law considers you a private property of your husband.."

Adults Only, Short Movie on Child Marriage in Yemen

Adults Only is a tragic story of a young girl called Amal whose dreams of a better life are snatched away when her mother decides to marry her off to an old man. The film concludes with a warning; marriage is for adults only. (via @NoonArabia)

Violence Against Women at NDC Continues

Amira Al-arasi

"One of Yemen Today TV channel's photographers physically assaulted Youth's Representative at Yemen's National Dialogue conference (NDC), Amira Al-arasi...an initial solution to the problem was made in which the photographer would apologise to Amira and he'd be detained for an entire day in prison, and the whole staff of the TV channel covering the conference would be replaced since they were unprofessional."

 (via Majdi Naqib)

Postcard From Mexico’s Bloggers Forum

“Once you've been to my Mexico, you won't ever be the same,” someone commented awhile ago on one of my posts on Facebook. I absolutely second that and I know for sure I’m not the same person who walked in Mexico city on the 1st of October, 2013 to participate in the Female Bloggers Forum as part of the 6th edition of Mexico City’s International Film Festival For Human Rights (DHFEST).

As every activist had and would still have inspirational people who shook her/him to their bones with their values, struggle and critical thinking, for me it was being largely influenced by rebellious feminists who did not just talk the talk but, literally, walked the walk. “I’m at her city, I might be walking on one of the spots she walked on,” I secretly and blissfully told myself every once in awhile, while I was walking around Mexico city’s streets. I’m talking here about the independent spirit who rebelled against the social construct of women of her time, Mexican legendary painter, Frida Kahlo.

I grew founder of Frida when I read about her for the first time during my first year at college. I was fascinated with her biography; being torn between pain and passion. Her remarkable genius is embodied in her resilience and abundant creativity in expressing her thoughts unapologetically and fearlessly through her paintings. Today, I like to think: if Frida was still alive, she'd be a blogger and have a -cool- blog on painting, feminism and more.

By Elienzodefrida Blog.

New Yemen charter could ban child marriages

I Read I Write, Yemeni Women Fight To Get Education

"A Yemeni proverb says "a girl leaves the house only twice, to her husband and to her grave" but for the Yemeni women in the I Read I Write series of portraits, the only way to go against this belief is through higher education, despite the staggering odds they're faced with." - Laura Boushnak, photographer >>>

Boushnak explains I Read I write series of portraits:

لقاء مع الإعلامية اليمنية نادية السقاف

Quote From Yemeni Feminist Writer Raufa Hassan

"There is a promise.. there is a hope at the beginning of this year; a hope which appeared last year, that women will have a share of our coming parliament as long as the elections would take place as it's planned. So, will it happen? this promise that comes at every election, that we work hard on and we hope to realise, and we dream day and night that one day we, women will become --according to the constitution-- citizens in front of the law, the laws that we all participate in making and take responsibility of." - Dr. Raufa Hassan, late prominent Yemeni feminist writer. >>

Yemen: End Child Marriage

Yemen should protect its girls from the devastating effects of early marriage by setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage by law, Human Rights Watch said today. The current political transition and drafting process for a new constitution offers a unique opportunity for the Yemeni government to enact laws protecting the rights of girls. >>>> 

What International Mainstream Media Doesn't Show about Women in Yemen

If you just google "Yemeni women" or/and observe contents on international media about women in Yemen, you'd definitely get pictures of Yemeni women covering their whole bodies and wearing black in black; only showing their eyes and hands. Since there is a tendency to portrait Yemeni women in a certain pattern in the international media as very conservative and influenced by how women in KSA usually wear the black abaya, this post is dedicated to dispel that myth.

Almost %60 of Yemen's population lives in rural areas where women know nothing about that black abayas. The dress code is as colorful as it gets.

In the capital city of Yemen, Sana'a, women's dress code in the public is very diverse. However, I lament how international media outlets only portrait half of the picture; disseminating pictures of the conservative ones like above and the other side of women's dress code like the ones below are neglected.

This is a report done by a Yemeni TV channel about a group of women's celebration on the International Women's Day, last 8th March. Notice, no international media bothered to report about them.