Almotamar.net Yemen Observer - Many gathered in the hall of the Officers’ Club in Sana’a last Saturday for a two-day conference to celebrate International Women’s Day. The conference was held to discuss the current pressing issues involving women, and propose possible solutions.

The conference was held under the patronage of the Prime Minster Abdul Qader Bajammal, with the attendance of the Minster of Social Affairs and Labor, NGOs, representatives of various governmental institutions, and the media. Many study papers addressing key women’s issues were presented at the conference, including papers on education, health, and labor.

Noriah al-Khamiry, a coordinator at the SOUL organization for the development of women and children, presented the experience of her organization as a role model for all the NGOs in regard to women’s issues. Her organization provides loans to women to start businesses, provides early childhood programs, and routinely partners with other groups. Another paper addressed the plight of businesswomen.

The research for this paper was conducted by Fawziah Nasher, the head of the Yemeni Business Women’s Council, but the paper was presented by Wafa Awadh. She suggested that the participation of women in economic life has been weak because men dominate the culture. “It is because the male-dominated culture does not give the women a chance to start their own business,” she said.

Furthermore, the discrimination against women in job opportunities or in other areas of business is also a contributing factor. “Some jobs even demand that women get their family’s permission to work or to travel,” she said. Another paper was presented by SHIMA, the Yemeni Network Combating Violence against Women. “It is ironic that we are here, whereas the cabinet has thus far declined to pass the safe age of marriage,” Dr. Nashwan al-Samiri said.

In his paper, he considered the early marriage of girls to be the root of all health, economic and social problems. “It is appalling that 10- and even 8-year-old girls in Hadhramout are married,” he said. Audience comments were welcome during discussions, and many had comments, complaints, or recommendations. The Shura Council should concentrate on women’s health and education issues for the time being, said Fare’e Alwan, an educational researcher.

Dr. Ahmed al-Kibsi, a former Minster of Sports, criticized the lack of unity among the women themselves. “If you dig up the root of the problem, you will find that half of the reasons are because of lack of cooperation among women.” Rahma al-Sharabi, the head of the WNC office in Taiz, agreed with al-Kibsi. “For a long time, we have been calling for unity amongst us,” she said.

She was obviously agitated, almost screaming her words. “I am embattled both at my job and in my home, just because of my political affiliation and my position as a member of the WNC,” she said. Another participant, former local council candidate Nisreen al-Hibshi, complained of the weak stance of the NGOs. “When I first nominated myself for local council, I thought that all the NGOs and the parties would support me,” she said.

But al-Hibshi was not as surprised by the failure of the parties to support her as she was about the failure of the NGOs to support her, despite promises to do so. “There were not enough posters or billboards for my campaign,” she said. Dr. Ahmed Makki, a member of the Shura Council and the head of one of the conference’s sessions, said that the council has many discussions aiming to better the situation of women.

“One of these is the law to make delivering babies free in the governmental hospitals. “I hope that judges stay until the end [of the conference] because these religious preachers are the best at influencing people,” he said. Makki expressed hope that all the forms of violence that WNC is trying to eradicate will come to an end. “The most violent action against women is when their children are taken from them,” he said.
“As a psychiatrist, I’ve found that most psychological problems are due to forcibly taking children away from their mothers, which is quite common these days,” he said. Then women of the WNC also prepared a dramatic play to represent the situation of oppressed Yemeni woman. It told the story of a young girl forced to leave her studies and marry at an early age. Her husband forced her to quit her studies to take care of the many kids. Then he left her to marry another woman and kicked her and the kids out of their home after 30 years of marriage.

She then went to a female lawyer, who told her to give up her case because no one would give her justice. But the woman insisted. “From this day and on, I won’t shut up my mouth, I want my rights back and my those of my kids,” the woman said. During the play, the actors used common verbal attacks used to denigrate rebellious women, such as “Go and wear Jambia (which implies that she is like a man, which is considered a great shame) and “Women can have either a husband or the grave.”

Horiah Mashhoor, the deputy of the head of the WNC, presented the final recommendations collected during the two days workshop. The National Strategy for the Development of Women recommended that more support be given to health and education. Also, all ministries committed to establishing internal women’s units as formal governmental offices specifically to address women’s issues, she said. The conference recommended the enforcement of free birthing in governmental institutions, and recommended that more money be spent building girls’ schools, especially in rural areas.

The recommendations will be followed up by the WNC to ensure their enforcement, Mashhoor said. The reactions of the participants at the event, which was also held last year, were varied. “There is nothing new here—it is the same as last year,” Afrah al-Azzani the head of the WNC office of al-Baidha governorate, said. “As a coordinator, I can say that progress is very slow,” she said. Siham Ahmed, the head of the women’s administration in the presidency, agreed with al-Azzani.

“I guarantee that if you come next year, you will find the same thing and that nothing has been changed,” she said. “But I do personally believe that this is a place for bringing our concerns to light,” she said. The parties concerned with these issues seem to have no genuine desire to support women.

“We have laws supporting our rights, such as occurred during the elections, but the parties do not have the desire to make a change,” she said. Ahmed thought that staging a women’s demonstration was a good idea. “We are in a tribe-dominated country that cannot fully accept women in new roles mixed among them, so we need to focus on this,” she said.

Ahmed said that a major problem that needed to be addressed is the many people who lack access to basic infrastructure. “There are some governorates that are in desperate need of a single classroom for girl students,” she said. Dr. Nashwan al-Samiri, the information expert at SHIMA, has a different view. “It is a respectable attempt by the WNC to make these efforts,” he said.

“Most important is that every woman has to work diligently and without rest to secure her rights.” Hasina Arfan, the head of the Women’s Development Office in Mahrah, was pleased with the results of the conference. “I like this conference; there has been remarkable progress since the first one,” she said. Arfan feels good about the progress in her governorate in general.

“In the past, women in Mahrah could barely reach the elementary classes, and now women are in colleges,” she said. Arfan, with her traditional Mahri dress, which attracted the attention of all the audience, believed that women should constantly demand more rights. “Whatever we get, we have to continue to call for more rights for all kinds of women—housewives and workers, both.”

Abdullah al-Shajrah, the head of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation office in Raima governorate, said that he came to see what the main problems of women are. “We are in the ministry are the main supporters of women’s issues and we support the decentralization of government in order to better represent the women’s roles,” he said.

All throughout the conference, there were flyers, books, and tapes produced by the WNC on display and available to anyone interested. “We appeal to participants to take these free materials,” said Adnan Sharaf, the man in charge of WNC library.

The National Strategy of Women was the most popular book, he said. Many said that they hoped that before next year’s conference, there would be a real enforcement of the recommendations of this conference.
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