Afrah Nasser: "Believe that you are worth listening to."

A feature about Afrah Nasser written by the Nobel Women's Initiative (NWI), part of the NWI's contribution to the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence Campaign featuring interviews with women activists about their experiences advocating for peace and women’s rights in conflict zones.

Nov. 2022 - Nobel Women's Initiative - A Yemeni human rights activist and writer who claimed political asylum in Sweden in 2011, Afrah is accustomed to freedom of movement. Here, in her native country in 2022, she faced mahram rules that forbid women’s movement without the presence or written permission of a male guardian.

“My concern about going to Yemen was that I didn’t know if my name was on a blacklist, but I realized on the ground there that my biggest problem was that I was a woman and a woman without a man, a woman without a guardian,” she said in an interview.

It was her first trip to witness the situation in Yemen firsthand since making the difficult decision to claim political asylum in Sweden in mid-2011 during the civilian uprising against the 30-year authoritarian rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“I didn’t choose Sweden, it was just an accident,” she said. “I was there at a workshop during the period when the peaceful revolution started to take a different turn.” Guerrilla warfare began in the streets of her hometown, Sana’a. The airport got shut down.

As a journalist and blogger in Yemen who exposed human rights abuse and criticized the regime, Afrah had stood up to hate messages and death threats. Could she remain defiant? “My family told me you can come back but you will not write again because it’s dangerous. So, I had to make the hard decision. I couldn’t imagine life without writing.”

Since then, staying connected from abroad with an extensive network of contacts, Afrah has chronicled arbitrary detention, torture, and other human rights abuses; the steady marginalization of women; and Yemen’s descent into poverty amid civil war.

“The majority of the country is just barely surviving economic hardship,” she said. “A young Yemeni woman today has the responsibility of putting food on the table. Women are the hungriest because they prioritize the men and their children. It’s a dire humanitarian situation.”

Conflict began in March 2015 between the internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi and UAE-led military coalition, and the Houthi movement supported by Iran. A truce in 2022 lasted only six months.

An independent writer and commentator who worked as a researcher at Human Rights Watch, Afrah has been honoured frequently with awards for her journalism and activism. “I’m thankful for the blessing of passion,” she said.

Amid accolades, she remains acutely aware of her position in a privileged elite. “I feel a huge responsibility because what I’m doing is nothing to what a lot of Yemeni women are doing inside the country.”

She said persecution of “the forgotten women of Yemen” is a function of militarism and toxic patriarchy, with the worst treatment in areas controlled by armed Houthi groups.

During the war, child marriage increased, as has violence against women. Detainees are held without charge and face torture in Houthi prisons. “Women in Yemen are not cutting their hair on camera,” she said, referring to the Iranian women’s revolution. “They are suffering in silence.”

“If I would have one message in this interview, it’s that I think there is a big moral responsibility for European and American diplomats meeting Yemeni officials,” she said. “They must ask ‘Where are the women in this room?’ ‘Why in this delegation is there no woman?’ They have a responsibility if they are truly pro-women’s rights, to confront Yemeni officials with those questions and pressure them to include half of the society.”

She recently put the spotlight on severe failures in humanitarian aid delivery in Yemen, long the poorest country in the Middle East and North Africa. “People are hungry, but they don’t even know where to register for aid that was given by the UN,” she said. “And God knows how much has gone in corruption cases.”

Among her proposals is a call for international condemnation of the Houthi restrictions on women, including female humanitarian aid workers (both Yemenis and foreigners), whom the Houthis force to have a male guardian when travelling for work inside Yemen.

Afrah posts her analyses for think tanks and publications on her blog which has been viewed more than a million times. The blog is illustrated by an Associated Press photo at Change Square in Sana’a where peaceful protesters gathered each morning near her university. “It represents the birth of my political work.”

She keeps a photo on her desk of her mentor, the pioneering Yemeni women’s rights advocate and journalist Raufa Hassan. “One time I told her ‘I want to be like you.’ And she said ‘I’m taken. Just be yourself.’ I always keep it in mind.”

That conversation is echoed in her advice for other activists. “Believe in yourself. Say and do things as if it’s the most important thing in the world. Believe that you are worth listening to. I wish someone had told me this a long time ago. Don’t wait for recognition. Have confidence in the significance of what you do.’

Afrah Nasser is a passionate advocate for the people of Yemen. She is an award-winning journalist, researcher and human rights activist who lives between Sweden and Yemen.

Women of the Revolution: A Vision for Post-war Yemen

 I co-discussed women's role in Yemen, last week, in a webinar organized by the Wilson Center.  

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. 

Cinema in Yemen: 'Nothing is impossible'

*In a historic Oscars entry, movie by Yemeni director Khadija al-Salami will vie for best foreign language film award. 

*My latest piece published in Aljazeera English. 

Yemeni film director, Khadija al-Salami. Photo courtesy: L'Express.

For the first time in the country's history, Yemen has entered a film into the Academy Awards competition in the category of best foreign language film.

It was announced last week that the dramatic feature film, I Am Nojoom: Age 10 And Divorced, would be among 85 entries vying for the Oscar.

"I was happy to hear the news, even though I have no expectations whatsoever," director Khadija al-Salami told Al Jazeera over the phone from Canada, where she was promoting the film.

"It is a tough competition, but let's hope this news at least gives war-torn Yemen some positivity and encourages young Yemeni filmmakers to dream big."

Shot in 2013, prior to the ongoing war in Yemen, and released in 2014, I Am Nojoom is Salami's debut drama feature film. She has previously made 25 documentaries about Yemen, with a heavy focus on women's issues.

Salami both wrote and directed the film, inspired by her own personal experience of being forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 11 - which led her to attempt suicide, and ended in divorce - and by the story of Yemen's youngest divorcee, Nujood Ali.

'I Am Nojoom' film trailer. 

"My belief in the importance of empowering our women and enforcing a law that criminalises this practice is what drove me to do this film," said Salami, whose movie has so far earned 18 international awards.

"But mainly, it was important for me to tell a story based on a mix of my own story, Nujood's story and many other girls' stories suffering from this practice. And as I am touring around the world releasing the movie, my initial understanding of how child marriage is a global problem is increasingly being confirmed."

The latest official statistics suggest that more than 50 percent of Yemeni girls are married before the age of 18. There is no law in the country banning the practice - a problem that reaches far beyond Yemen's borders: "Globally, there are around 15 million female children being married every year," Salami noted. "The film speaks to many girls across the world." 

Ironically, I Am Nojoom is making global headlines at a time when Yemen's cinema scene has largely faded.

The country once boasted a vibrant cinematic culture, having gone through many phases since the early 1900s. In 1910, moviegoers in Yemen flocked to mobile cinema shows in Aden, and in the ensuing years, Bollywood films were widely exhibited in the city's cinema halls.

During the 1970s, the film scene gained strength, with around 50 cinema halls emerging in Aden, including Radio Cinema, Popular Cinema and Cinema Hurricane. In Sanaa, severalcinema halls showcased both Arab and Western films.

"In the mid '70s, north Yemen's late president, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, had a vision for the art scene to develop - part of his nation-building strategy," Yemeni art critic Ahlam Mohammed told Al Jazeera.

Yemen's cinematic scene peaked after the reunification of northern and southern Yemen in 1990. In the years that followed, several cinema halls opened in major cities, showing foreign and locally made films.

"Despite the early '90s being marked by several conflicts, the unification contributed [to] the film culture of both north and south Yemen in the coming years," Mohammed said, noting that Yemen's culture ministry provided support to local Yemeni filmmakers - particularly to those working on films with an "anti-terrorism" message.

But the growth did not last long. Economic problems bumped the film industry to the bottom of the government's priority list, while the rise of conservative forces further curbed cinematic growth.

"When we, the actors and filmmakers, sought the state's support, government officials used to state clearly that it was not the right time to support films, as they had more important issues to deal with," actor Adnan Alkhadher, a cast member in I Am Nojoom, told Al Jazeera. "We had terrible support in funding cinema, whether in the north or the south."

Amid this backdrop, the outbreak of Yemen's 2011 uprising offered a sign of hope for filmmakers.

Yemeni filmmaker, Sara Ishaq. Photo courtesy: Oscars. 

"The uprising represented a moment of courage for many Yemeni filmmakers and a time when their voices were validated, as Yemen received great attention during the Arab Spring," said Yemeni filmmaker Sara Ishaq. "I was and still am impressed by the rise of art and film in Yemen in the wake of the uprising."

Ishaq directed the first Yemeni film to be nominated for an Oscar, the documentary Karama Has No Walls (2012), which was set during the uprising.

Salami, meanwhile, says that she has made efforts to ensure that residents of war-torn Yemen would be able to see her film, arranging screenings in local forums and community centres.


I Am Nojoom has faced some criticism for portraying stereotypes about Yemen and "exploiting" the issue of child marriages in an effort to please a Western audience - accusations that Salami vehemently rejects.

"This debate is not only another reminder of why, until today, Yemen has no law against child marriage - but it also reflects the status of women's rights in Yemeni society," she said.

As she begins thinking about her next project - a love story that she hopes to shoot inside Yemen once the war comes to an end - Salami says that she is optimistic about the future.

"Nothing is impossible," she said. "If you put your heart into something, the sky is your limit." 

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.

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)

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. >>

Three Women Voices in Yemen's National Dialogue Conference

While observing Yemen's national dialogue conference from distance, the view seems blurry and inconstant. Nonetheless, few speeches by prominent speakers give impression that there is a determination to continue the struggle in demanding social justice and rights no matter what.

Among the various crucial topics the conference aims to address, women's issues are on the spot. Accordingly, female participants -who hold 30% of the overall seats in the conference- made sure that they voice out fundamental rights.


Women's rights advocate, Balqees al-Lahabi speaks about women's challenge to be in the public, "a woman needs quota because she still can't enter the decision-making platforms just like how she can't enter public spaces. In the same way you, politicians, set quotas for yourselves, we demand a quota for us, women, too," she says.

Award-wining human rights defender and chairperson of Sisters' Arab Forum for Human Rights,

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.

دعوة من نساء اليمن للسلام في يوم المرأة العالمي

 اليوم اليمن في امس الحاجة لتعزيز عملية بناء السلام بين كل أطيافه بعد ان ذقنا الأمرين من حروب ونزاعات على مر العشرين عام الماضية. غدا تُنظم مجموعة من نساء اليمن بقيادة الناشطة والباحثة سارة جمال، تنظم المجموعة وقفة رمزية نسوية تدعو الى السلام بمناسبة يوم المرأة العالمي. تقول سارة جمال: " نالت اليمن نصيبها من النزاعات المسلحة بين حرب 1994 و حروب صعدة الست و أرحب و الحصبة و أحداث سبتمبر 2011 و لم يتضرر قادة و تجار الحروب بل نحن من خسرنا أقواتنا و بيوتنا و أرواح من نحب، لذا هذه دعوة لنساء اليمن ان ينزلنّ معنا في الثامن من مارس أمام الجامع الكبير في قلب مدينتنا القديمة لنقول لليمنيين لن نرسل أبنائنا و أزواجنا و آباءنا للقتال، ونحن لها، نساء اليمن و سلامها!" (رابط الفعالية)

كفاية حروب ونزاعات .. يانساء اليمن اتحدن ضد الحروب والعنف! هذه فرصتنا لكي نثبت اننا جزء من سلام أرضنا. فالقضية لاتتعلق بالمرأة او الرجل فالمشكلة هي الإنسان. فلندع الصراعات والانقسامات على جنب ولنتعامل مع المستجدات بنظرة شمولية قوامها الإنسان بشقيه الرجل والمرأة.

غدا سيحتفل العالم بيوم المرأة العالمي وفي ذلك  تنقسم الآراء مابين من هو مع و من هو ضد مطالب المساواة بين الجنسين في كافة مجالات الحياة. فهناك فئة تدعوا بإخلاص ودون ملل لنهوض بالنساء وتمكينهنّ حتى يصلنّ لمناصب القرار مثلهنّ مثل الرجال، وبالطبع لتحقيق ذلك يستلزم الخوض في عملية طويلة تتطلب معالجة عدد هائل من التحديات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية والثقافية والسياسية التي تواجه النساء بشكل خاص. وفي الكفة الأخرى الفئة التي تتعلل بأحكام دينية أو أسباب اجتماعية أو بيولوجية أو سياسية أو جميع ماذكر، تتعلل بتلك الأسباب لتبرر رفضها لمبدأ المساواة بين الجنسين. ربما الأمر أكثر تعقيدا من ذلك.

الأمر المثير للإهتمام في مناصرة قضايا المرأة (أو مايعرف بالنسوية) هو أنه ليس بالضرورة ان المناصرين هنّ من الإناث .. فليست كل امرأة هي نسوية وليست كل نسوية هي امرأة. هناك عدد من الذكور المهتمين بقضايا المرأة بشكل متفاني وهناك نساء ترفضنّ مبدأ المساواة والعكس صحيح. الأمر متشعب جداً ويدفع المرء الى البحث والتعمق فيه ودراسته لمحاولة إدراك حيثيات هذه الحالة الاجتماعية.

د.رؤوفة حسن

 بالعودة ليوم المرأة العالمي ورمزيته في الحث على تحقيق المساواة بين الجنسين أتذكر كيف بدأت قصتي مع البحث في مبدأ المساواة. اتذكر اثناء مراهقتي كنت اشاهد على تلفاز بيتنا في صنعاء الرائدة الأكاديمية المرحومة د.رؤوفة حسن عندما كانت تُجرى معاها لقاءات بخصوص قضايا اجتماعية.

 كانت تُشدد دائماً على "تعزيز مفاهيم المواطنة القائمة على الحقوق والواجبات المتساوية وترسيخ مبدأ تكافؤ الفرص بين كل افراد المجتمع بغض النظر عن نوعهم الاجتماعي..." وأمور شتى. كنت أقول في سري: "يالها من امرأة مذهلة .. كانت تبهرني بمعرفتها الواسعة وطرحها الراقي جدا. وكنت أقراء في الصحف عن انجازات المناضلة رضية شمشير أو عن ماما نجيبة حداد وعن الرائدة امة العليم السوسوه.. وعندما كبرت قليلاً وبدأت العمل كصحفية سنحت لي الفرصة لمقابلة عدد من تلك الشخصيات اليمنية التي شكلت الحركة النسوية اليمنية  في العصر الحديث أمثال المرحومة د. رؤوفة حسن التي صاغت الكثير في نظرتي للأمور بشكل عام. والتقيت ايضا بالاستاذة أمل الباشا التي اعتبرها اهم من عزز فهم النضال الحقوقي في وعيي.

مع الأستاذة أمل الباشا

 في ظل المشاكل المتفاقمة التي تعيشها اليمن لربما قد تكون المطالبة بالمساواة في غير محلها في الوقت الحالي. لكن ماذا عن تحقيق مبدأ المواطنة الكاملة؟ ألم تُنادي ثورة اليمن في 2011 بالمواطنة الكاملة؟ نعم، نادينا بذلك وبدولة مدنية تقوم على السلام والتسامح وقبول الآخر والمساواة في الحقوق والواجبات لكل أفراده بغض النظر عن الفروق مهما كانت. ولكي نُحقق تلك المواطنة الكاملة لابد من تحقيق المساواة في الحقوق بين الرجل والمرأة، وكم أحوجنا الى ذلك لأنه حتي اليوم لم يُسن قانون السن الآمن للزواج في اليمن للحد من زواج الصغيرات الذي يؤدي الى حدوث وفيات كثيرة لفتيات صغار السن زوجن باكراً فمنهن من ماتت أثناء الولادة أو المعاشرة الجنسية، بالإضافة الى ذلك فانه حتى اليوم لا تملك المرأة اليمنية حقها في عقد قرانها أو الشهادة في عقد غيرها.

هناك الكثير أمامنا لكي نفعله في ذلك الصدد ولابد من مواصلة مسيرة تلك الرائدات المناضلات اليمنيات الاتي افنين عمرهنّ لتعزيز مبادئ المواطنة الكاملة والدفاع عن حقوق المرأة اليمنية. وان كانت الدعوة لتحقيق المساواة بين الجنسين في اليمن في غير أوانها فمتى سيكون ذلك؟

Yemen's Freedom Fighter Amal Basha Continues to Struggle

It was one of the best days of my life when Amal Basha visited Stockholm in April 2012.


One of Yemen's fearless freedom fighters, (my guru) who's at present works as the spokesperson of the preparatory committee for the National Dialogue Conference scheduled to take place in Yemen in around one month, Mrs. Amal Basha is gracefully dealing with two obstacles, currently:-

-She's been fighting for women's rights in Yemen since I could ever remember and the top priority for women's rights in Yemen is to stop the horrific child marriages. She, along with a number of civil society organizations in Yemen have been pushing the parliment to pass a law that could ban child marriages by setting a minimum age that's 16 or 17 for girls and boys to be married off. Sadly, that demand has never been realized.

As an extention of her work, she's today determined to put that demand on the top of her coming report about Prioritis for Women's Rights in Yemen, a report that is supposed to be discussed in the coming National Conference. All sounds great but on reality that's been a very tough task for Basha to do. Conservative/islamist individuals/groups are giving her a tough time. Why? Because child marraiges, in core,is build-up on a deep religious stance and calling to ban it is unacceptable for that kind of mentality. Having said that, Basha is currently facing a horrible critique by hate comments/messages (and God only knows what she is facing on the ground) saying that it's a bulshit demand (child marriages) she is pushing for.

This kind of war is not new to her. There have been similar several stituations when she had hard times by such irritating groups including corrupt govermental officials. However, She has been always a fearless brave fighter that seeks nothing but improvement and better conditions for femals in Yemen. Admittedly, she's been known for her bravery in standing firm agianst all the hatered and threates she encounters.

-The second issue she's currently facing is a media propaganda campaign against her by "unknown groups" who have posted a private picture for her that looks "not cool" for lots of conservative ignorant Yemeni groups. I don't want to go in details about the picture because I truly believe it was a very private one and I can't understand how it went on Facebook in the first place. But, isn't like a perfect timing for that picture to come into light while her work on the Child marriages issue is on the table? hmmm..

I'm blogging about Mrs. Amal Basha while I vividly remember our conversations together when she recently visited Stockholm for a conference. I surely can say that Basha is a person who has an endless passion and diligence for women's rights wherever they are. I have always looked upto her. She is my guru. Period.

One year after the women took to the streets of Yemen

Source: womendialogue.org
Author: Susanne Cordes. Translation: Andrew Bell. Photos: Jens Juul
Published: 10-08-2012

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Ramzia Al-Eryani, chairwoman of the nationwide NGO Yemeni Women’s Union

Spring was in the air – as was an atmosphere of equality – when the women of Yemen took to the streets in protest during last year’s disturbances. But revolution has since faded into normality, and today the advocates of women’s rights in the country are challenged by increasing political Islamification. Ramzia Al-Eryani and Bilkis Zabara are two of the women, representing the academic world and the activist movement respectively, who are working to change the future for Yemeni women.

“There’s no Arab Spring in Yemen – it’s more of an Arab winter”, explains Ramzia Al-Eryani (the photo above) when commenting on the current situation in Yemen.

Ramzia Al-Eryani, chairwoman of the nationwide NGO Yemeni Women’s Union, and Bilkis Zabara, head of the Center for International Development and Gender at Sana’a University, are in Copenhagen to talk about the development in Yemen since the country’s women, side by side with the men, took over the central square in Sana’a in 2011. The square – which has since become known as ‘Change Square’ – was the centre of the revolution that resulted in President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s removal from power in November 2011.

Bilkis Zabara, head of the Center for International Development and Gender at Sana’a University


At the time, many hoped that Yemen would begin to embrace equality and modernity with the republic’s first democratic elections being held in February 2011; however, the country today remains plagued by economic instability and severe security issues.

Following the elections, the post of president was taken over by the former vice president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who, in reality, was merely a puppet figurehead under the control of ousted leader President Saleh. Consequently, many Yemenis feel that they are still owed their first truly democratic elections.

In particular, the Salafis’ (an ultra-conservative Islamic group who formed their first political party in March this year) surge in success together with the more moderate traditionalist Islah party has proved a challenge for the work promoting women’s rights. The challenges that have been thrown up by this are ones that both Ramzia Al-Eryani and Bilkis Zabara face in their work on a daily basis.

Time for fundamental changes to be made

“During the revolution, many women went down to Change Square to take part. This was something completely new in our country. Everyone believed that women’s rights would improve in the wake of the revolution, but we were in for a surprise. Now that the revolution is over – or rather has just disappeared completely – no one is asking the women and the young people in Yemen what they need. The women have been forgotten”, tells Al-Eryani.

Nonetheless, both women are keen to get down to business and begin facing the new challenges.
“We just have more work to do now”, is the women’s unanimous comment, and both agree that now is the time for each of them (representing both the academic world and the more practical side of things) to take action to create fundamental change for the women of Yemen.

The word ‘gender’ is haram

A key element for Bilkis Zabara is the spreading of information throughout the population as quickly as possible. During last year’s disturbances, the University of Sana’a was shut down for long periods. Now the university has reopened, but despite this, she fears that the Center for International Development and Gender in particular risks being shut down again.
“We need to come up with a strategy as quickly as possible to spread information among the population. It isn’t just the Salafis who I’m worried about, but it’s also Islah. They’ve written articles stating how the word gender itself is haram (‘sin’ or ‘prohibited’ according to Islam, Ed.), and that we, under the influence of the West, are trying to spread bad habits and customs in our society.”

“That’s why it’s vital that we get the people on the streets talking. Often those who visit our centre think that it’s all right – but they also think a similar centre should be set up for men. To begin with, I didn’t understand this because our centre is, after all, for both women and men. But then it struck me that there lacks a fundamental understanding of what the word ‘gender’ actually means”, explains Bilkis Zabara.
“There really is a basic need for information right now”, she reiterates.

Threats on a daily basis

During the revolution, there was a great deal of focus on those Yemeni women who chose to speak out for women’s rights. In 2011, Tawakkul Karman was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her political work, and young women such as Afrah Nasser not only conquered the blogosphere, but also conquered the public sphere by participating in demonstrations and even going as far as drinking tea at a public café on Change Square.
Internally in Yemen, the rhetoric has become more hard-line since the revolution. Religious and political leaders often raise doubt about the honour of those politically active women, and women who choose to work with men are accused of promiscuous behaviour.

Since the revolution began, both Ramzia Al-Eryani and Bilkis Zabara have experienced receiving both indirect and direct threats and exhortations and have come in for sharp criticism.
“They [Islah] send us booklets and pamphlets in which it says that a woman’s place is in the home, and that if a women lives an independent life, her children are probably illegitimate and God will burn her face. When I read these books, I can’t help thinking where our future is taking us and wondering what we can do to fight this”, tells Ramzia Al-Eryani.

“I’ve responded to these with quotes taken directly from the Koran: ‘anyone who accuses a woman will themselves burn in Hell’. Afterwards, they have threatened that those women who choose to visit the Yemeni Women’s Union will be killed”, she tells.

Both women laugh in exasperation. Despite the escalating violence in Yemen, and the establishment of hard-line political fronts, they know that such threats, for the most part, hold no substance.
“We face a great deal of resistance, but we must continue working onwards. It may be true that many men think that we should stay at home, but we have to ignore this. I believe that women are much more focussed in that area and are prepared to go all the way”, stresses Bilkis Zabara.

Economic independence – a step towards equality

In 2010, Ramzia Al-Eryani was nominated by The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) as one of 100 women in the world who have made a major contribution towards improving the economic independence of women.
Much of her work in the Yemeni Women’s Union involves coaching women in taking out micro-loans, either on their own or as a group. In addition to educating women in basic schooling and IT, the organisation also carries out programmes that teach women how they can start up small business enterprises. All these initiatives contribute to improving the opportunities for women to become financially independent.

At the same time, the YWU runs information campaigns that inform women about their rights within the family – many, for example, are surprised to learn that they have the right to education and the right to work.

Furthermore, the YSU campaigns for a women’s right to receive alimony or maintenance, if her husband takes a new wife and leaves them destitute, or if the marriage is dissolved for any other reason.
All women within society and from all regions are eligible to apply for funding from the Yemeni Women’s Union, which has a large network of volunteer lawyers and psychologists at its disposal.

In rural districts, the organisation spreads information about family planning and informs of the risks associated with child marriages – a problem which remains a high priority for women’s organisations in the country.

But not everyone is quite as enthusiastic about the organisation’s work as many of the YWO’s programmes challenge existing social structures; nevertheless, for Ramzia Al-Eryani it remains an issue of persevering. The struggle is long and hard, but that is the only way to get results.

“Sometimes it takes years for people to understand how important it is for a woman to, for example, get an education, and that we need to change the conditions for the women in our society”, she stresses.

Free from party-political interests

An important strategy for Ramzia Al-Eryani is keeping the Yemeni Women’s Union free from political interests, thereby allowing unhindered work and ensuring the on-going existence of the organisation in the current political climate.
“When the revolution began, many of the young volunteer women who worked for the YWU, enthusiastically took part in the protests at Change Square. I made it clear to all of them that they were welcome to demonstrate, but that they should do so on their own account; they should not go as representatives of the YWU. I have also refrained from commenting on the political situation in the media. It’s vital that the organisation remain impartial, independent and secure, so that we can continue our work irrespective of who is in power”, she points out.

Working for structural change

For Bilkis Zabara, the first priority has been to position the Centre for Development and Gender in such a way so that education and information can contribute to structural changes in the area of equality.
“We are working towards broadening the understanding of the word ‘gender’ within the university environment. That’s our primary aim. Then we’ll move on to the ministries. The good thing is that all ministries now have an office for ‘women’s affairs’. This was in the past a demand made by those countries providing aid to Yemen.”

“As it stands now, these women’s affairs offices are primarily symbolic. There’s no activity taking place in them. But our aim is to use these offices as channels through which we can spread the issue of equality at a governmental level.”

One of the strategies that the Center for Development and Gender is working with is attracting students from both the government sector and from NGOs in Yemen.
“We don’t yet have any equality specialists in Yemen. Many of our students have practical experience from their work with different organisations, particularly during the revolution, but they lack a theoretical background to understand and implement equality initiatives”, explains Bilkis Zabara, who continues to explain that it is precisely in such areas that the Center for Development and Gender can provide training.

Security and stability remain prerequisites

The greatest prerequisite for both of the women being able to continue their work is a stabilisation of the situation in Yemen. There are many weapons in circulation and the interests of both the religious fractions and the traditional tribal clans are at stake. In southern Yemen, Al Qaeda has managed to gain a strong foothold and holds a great deal of sway.

Ramzia Al-Eryani fears that new disturbances could result in a situation bordering on civil war.
“If we have a new revolution, we risk having a civil war. What we need now is dialogue between the parties. If we can create a positive dialogue, possibly with the support of the UN or the EU, we can hope that Yemen will become a safer place to be.”

“There are 18 months until our first truly democratic elections. But almost anything can happen to our country in 18 months. What will happen with the women of Yemen? What will happen to our civil rights?”, she asks.
“We [the YWU] conducted a questionnaire in Yemen where we asked women what they wanted out of the future. Everyone answered that they wanted a safe place where they and their children could live securely and safely. Once we have achieved security, then afterwards we can work to achieve the rest”, concludes Ramzia Al-Eryani.

In the face of a political storm, Yemen's women stand firm

My piece for The National.ae

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When Hooria Mashhour, Yemen's minister for human rights, took the oath of office nearly one year ago, little did she know the job would bring personal as well as political hardships.

In July this year, AlMotamar, the official online newspaper for Yemen's ruling party, the General People's Congress - still headed by the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh - published a news story with a provocative headline.


"Minister Mashhour Calls for Freedom of Sexuality, Banning Polygamy and Cancellation of Quranic legislation", the headline read. The unnamed author explained that "the minister of human rights delivered a draft resolution to the cabinet consisting of multiple violations against Quranic legislations and mentioning a clause against the GCC deal that led to establishing the current cabinet which Hooria Mashhour is one of". The report claimed that Ms Mashhour supported women's and gay rights in Yemen in her draft resolution.

The minister denied delivering such a draft resolution and said the points AlMotamar focused on were the standard recommendations that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights always puts forward. Yemen, like most Islamic countries, has reservations about some of those recommendations, and Mrs Mashhour expressed those clearly.

The minister described AlMotamar's article as part of a systematic campaign of incitement against her as a way to silence her work. She took to her official Twitter account and claimed the media of the General People's Congress "is inciting the community against me due to the ministry's efforts in following up with the Human Rights Council recommendations that condemn the immunity to killers of protesters during 2011 crackdown on protesters".

Before the article was published, Mrs Mashhour had been pushing for an impartial national committee to investigate crimes and violations committed by the government during the crackdown on last year's uprising, which forced Mr Saleh from power.

In addition, Mrs Mashhour was persistent in calling for the cancellation of the immunity granted to the ex-president. She repeatedly expressed those demands during Cabinet meetings. The GPC understandably has no wish to see the former president lose immunity or have his policies during the uprising investigated.


Mrs Mashhour says she is in the process of filing a case against AlMotamar for spreading false information about her work and instigating the community against her.


For its part, the news service denies her allegations. In an emailed statement to me, AlMotamar said it published the story "without bias or incitement". Mrs Mashhour "didn't deny that she proposed the draft resolution but she called it as the HCHR recommendations and she asked for each minister to presume accordingly. We assure that it wasn't our intention to target Mashhour for her person and we have no reason whatsoever to do so."

Feminist activists in Yemen strongly believe that had it been a male minister the media war would have been different. In a conservative country like Yemen, to associate a person with a news story about gay rights is agitating and could lead to serious, perhaps fatal, consequences. Yet Mrs Mashhour remains firm. She wrote on her Twitter account: "I will never ever give up defending the human rights of all Yemenis, regardless of their cultural and/or political backgrounds."


Mrs Mashhour's sense of fortitude is not unique among female pioneers in Yemen. In April 2012, I had the privilege of spending three days in Stockholm with Amal Basha, one of Yemen's veteran defenders of human rights

Mrs Basha is the founder and chair of Sisters' Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF), an NGO watchdog that works on uncovering a wide range of human rights violations in Yemen. This woman has been subjected to verbal and physical harassment, especially after the publication in 2009 of a report on torture in Yemen. Nonetheless, she continues the fight.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked her innocently in Stockholm. "It's been a risky job for you." She answered me with complete confidence and a firm voice. "Over the past 10 years, SAF has managed to file hundreds of suits in Yemen's courts about individuals violating human rights and women's rights. Justice was served for 70 per cent of them. How can I get tired? I'm very passionate about what I do and I have no plans whatsoever to stop."

Mrs Mashhour and Mrs Basha are representative of many other female warriors who have been on the front line for several generations, fighting for a better future for all in Yemen. The fact that many outsiders only became aware of this during the 2011 protests, should not reflect on the female champions who continue to agitate for change.

Arguably, there is no cohesive feminist movement in Yemen, but each woman in Yemen has been part of a historical collective women's movement that has been taking place for a long time. I can say that confidently, bearing in mind that Yemen used to be in its history a very feminist country.

In fact, Yemen was ruled by three different queens. The best-known is the Queen of Sheba from ancient history, but in the 11th and 12th centuries the country was ruled by queens Arwa Al Sulayhi and later Asma'a Al Sulayhi.

However, it's not enough to romanticise historical facts because, today, women in Yemen are suffering more than ever with Yemen's overall problems and, accordingly, they need empowerment more than ever.

During the 2011 uprising, Yemeni women astonished the world with their role during the protests - especially, of course, the Nobel laureate Tawakkol Karman. However, their role in the uprising was just an extension of their everyday struggles.

"Many people talk about Yemeni women breaking the wall of fear and social norms during the uprising," says the Yemeni journalist Samia Al Aghbari, "but no one mentioned how Yemeni women have always been and still are in the struggle for a better tomorrow for everyone in Yemen. That kind of discourse seems to me to marginalise the fact that women in Yemen have a long history in the struggle."

Yemen currently has three female ministers in the cabinet of President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi - unlike Mr Saleh's where we had only one female minister.

After the deal by the Gulf Cooperation Council for Mr Saleh to step down as president, there was huge pressure on the new president to assign female ministers to the new cabinet. Perhaps that was the only good thing out of the GCC deal. Having three female ministers puts Yemeni women in a relatively better political position than our sisters in, for instance, Saudi Arabia.

In a nutshell, one can measure how healthy the social and political structure of a country is by measuring women's status - and women in Yemen still face a wide range of challenges, even after the revolution. Yet no matter the challenges they face, they stand firm. Even in the midst of the storm, Yemeni women keep fighting.