Feminism tackles private issues, including caregiving roles, marriage, procreation, divorce, and other ones that usually are decided by the family in Yemen, not the state. However, Feminism is a deeper and a more inclusive concept.

Bilqees Al Abdaly (South24)

More than 90% of the world's female population live in countries characterized by a large women’s empowerment deficit and large gender gap, according to the World Bank.[1] It also stands to reason that in order to measure the impact of women’s empowerment on development indexes the general situation of any country should be stable.

In Yemen, more than 6.36 million women and girls face increased risks of various types of violence, with rural areas lacking protection services by 90%. Around 5.5 million women need help in the field of healthcare.[2] Over the past years, Yemen has witnessed a decline in several global indexes. In 2021, Yemen ranked 155 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, depicting huge gender disparities. The country’s Overall Economic Participation and Opportunity for Women holds a low global standing, positioned at 154 out of 156.[3] According to ‘Neswan‘ website, the illiteracy rate among females in Yemen reached the level of 40%, including 74.9% in rural areas.[4] Yemen ranked 175th out of 177 countries in the Women Peace and Security Index in 2023.[5] According to one study, the percentage of the financial assets of Yemeni females contributing to the business sector is only 11%.[6]

According to World Bank Group Chief Economist Indermit Gill, “Women have the power to turbocharge the sputtering global economy…Yet, all over the world, discriminatory laws and practices prevent women from working or starting businesses on an equal footing with men. Closing this gap could raise global gross domestic product by more than 20% – essentially doubling the global growth rate over the next decade—but reforms have slowed to a crawl.” According to an ILO report of 2022, persistent and significant gaps in care services and policies have left hundreds of millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support, yet meeting these needs could create almost 300 million jobs by 2035. The report, ‘Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work’, says that three in 10 women of reproductive age, or 649 million women, have inadequate maternity protection that does not meet the key requirements of the ILO’s Maternity Protection Convention.[7] According to the World Bank Blogs, “empowering women is essential to reducing poverty and when women gain access to economic opportunities, the benefits are exponential. Women who make money are able to invest in the well-being of their children and families, contribute to their communities, and help grow economies. That is why closing gender gaps is essential to reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.” [8]

Discrepancy 

There is a great deal of confusion around the term Women’s Empowerment globally, not just at the Arab and local level.[9] Since the emergence of the Women’s Movement in Yemen during the 1940s [10], there has been a remarkable discrepancy regarding empowerment. Female-led entities have adopted “women empowerment” as an urgent need. They have criticized a number of conventional concepts like the traditional protection system, considering these as a “cover” that restricts the movement and development of women. According to a study by the Yemen Policy Center, “genuine women’s empowerment, and the ability to fully participate in the country’s recovery and contribute to the population’s wellbeing, requires the elimination of structures of violence that inhibit their effective participation. Without its elimination, women are required, personally and often individually, to stand up to patriarchal structures and face the violence.” The 2022 study explores “the hidden pathways of women’s empowerment to identify lessons for other women on this path”, and argues that “working women exhibit resilience which allows them to manage the negative reinforcements they experience from society and at their place of work and to rebound from setbacks. This resilience is understood as ‘the process of patterned adjustments adopted by a society or an individual in the face of endogenous or exogenous shocks’.” It says that “the resilience of Yemeni women becomes apparent once they are and remain working women, despite all adversities.” [11]

Another study by the Yemen Policy Center, on the underground feminist movement in Yemen, says that “since the 2011 nationwide uprising against the Yemeni regime, women have stood at the forefront of social and political change, challenging patriarchal norms and the structural violence which has severely restricted their social, political, and economic participation. At the same time, the ongoing violent conflict has contributed to the failure of traditional protection mechanisms, which have always been weak in protecting women and holding perpetrators accountable. This has left women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and peace builders increasingly unsafe and insecure. The targeting of women is part of a systematic crackdown against Yemen’s women’s movement, personified by WHRDs who speak critically about authorities. The crackdown is facilitated by the structural violence inherent within formal (legal and governmental) and informal (societal, tribal, and familial) systems that limit women’s potential to participate in public life.” [12] It quotes the Yemen National Household Demographic Survey conducted in 2013 as showing that “almost 50% of women justified a husband hitting his wife if she did not meet his expectations”. [13]

According to the Yemen Policy Center study, most women interviewed from both Aden and Taiz stated that the society in Aden is more “open-minded” than in Taiz. “Nevertheless, Yemeni communities to different degrees are affected and governed by a patriarchal system. These patriarchal norms define gender-specific roles, which ensure that the man remains dominant over the woman… As the ‘weaker’ gender carrying the family’s honor, it is the duty of the men to protect her.

Some studies accuse feminists in Yemen of working “according to foreign agendas and submitting shadow reports with an aim to pass articles opposed by the Yemeni state when signing on international agreements.”[14] 

Other studies believe that it is important to consider the cultural conceptions for more effective empowerment. [15] Yemenis frequently look at feminism with suspicion and believe that it is used by non-government organizations to direct their interventions.[16] Furthermore, understanding local contexts helps close the gap between the international concepts and the local vision of empowerment. 

A study by the Yemen Policy Center calls for international nongovernmental organizations to navigate feminism and women’s empowerment with cultural sensitivity to avoid a backlash. Calling for the cultivation of pragmatic nuanced interventions, the study discusses the concept of “mahram”, or a male guardian for a woman, and says it must be understood from a local viewpoint, where the concept is rooted in care and responsibility, rather than in questioning women’s morals or hatred. It says while the “mahram” isn’t necessary in some families or areas, “he represents a significant cultural and religious norm in others”. Some studies believe that “feminism in Yemen has contributed in supporting women’s rights and protecting them from violations”.[17] Other studies stress that the empowerment of women is an issue that has strategic importance.[18]

Between Theory and Reality

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), defining the term ‘Empowering Women and Girls’, says “it concerns women and girls gaining power and control over their own lives. It involves awareness-raising, building self-confidence, the expansion of choices and increased access to and control over resources and actions to transform the structures and institutions which reinforce and perpetuate gender discrimination and inequality. The empowerment should include (a) equal capabilities for women and men (such as education and health); (b) equal access to resources and opportunities for women and men (such as land, employment and credit); and (c) women’s agency to use these rights, capabilities, resources and opportunities to make strategic choices and decisions in all areas of life (such as political participation, decision-making in communities and intra-household decision making.[19]

Empowering women is considered the most controversial concept. It has been commonly used in several international conventions by feminist thinkers, especially the radical ones.[20] The term is related to the global Feminist Movement that emerged in the beginning of the 18th century with its several forms including “Marxism”, “Liberalism”, “Radical Socialism”, “Feminist Intersectionality”, and “Cyberfeminism”.[21] All of them have in common the demand for women's rights and achieving gender equality. However, there are differences between these trends that reach the point of collision over a number of philosophical narratives upon which they are based.

Radical feminism has led to violent responses as it asks women around the world to abandon femininity and the transition from legal equality to natural equality that denies the existence of any natural and biological differences between men and women.[22] Moreover, some of its thinkers described maternity as a form of “slavery”.[23] They called for renouncing religious texts that, according to them, degrade women.[24]

Public opinion deals with any female leader as being “feminist”. This is although many female-led entities in Yemen do not claim feminism and even lack organized work. Many of them circulate the term from a Yemeni perspective due to its spread through social media or civil society organizations. This has made female leaders in Yemen, especially those who defend women’s rights, bear the consequences of the “Feminism” concept with all its flaws, regardless of the different philosophies of its several trends.

As a whole, the studies discussed in this article do not oppose women empowerment with its different intellectual trends by their founders. They discuss the impact of empowering women in a traditional society like Yemen which defends its cultural peculiarities. They also address the stances adopted by female human rights defenders toward the structural violence against them. Despite the remarkable increase in the number of women joining the job market in Yemen during wartime, the violence against them has escalated for political, economic, and social reasons.[25] A local study said: “7% of Yemeni women joined the labor market. This percentage has increased and transformed during the wartime. This is due to the hard livelihood conditions that have forced thousands of women to get out their homes for work, with an aim to provide the basic needs of their families. However, the roots of the problem are still in place due to customs and traditions”.[26]

The International Labor Organization in a report in June 2024 highlighted its efforts towards gender equality in Yemen’s contracting sector, through its support for the Public Works Project (PWP) which enabled a pioneering training program for 52 women across 10 governorates. It relates the success story of Kariman, a civil engineer graduate, who along with her colleagues has bagged the contract to rehabilitate a rainwater control and distribution channel in a village in Lahj governorate. “This project is more than an infrastructure development; it’s a symbol of the changing tides in a traditionally male-dominated sector. 

The community’s response has been overwhelmingly positive. The newly built channel not only serves a large segment of farmers but also stands as a testament to the precision and care that women bring to such construction works”.[27]

Clear Paths

Feminism tackles private issues, including caregiving roles, marriage, procreation, divorce, and other ones that usually are decided by the family in Yemen, not the state, except for litigation cases. Feminism also touches on culturally sensitive concepts such as the biological identity of individuals and the relationship of societies to religion and cultural norms. Empowering women is one of its most prominent products [28] that connect local communities with the global controversy around it.[29] 

Accordingly, it is important for the entities led by women in Yemen to provide an intellectual product for the “Yemeni Feminism” concept in a way that addresses the intersection of universal rights and Yemeni peculiarities, in addition to reconsidering changeable cultural heritage. Until then, civil society and local organizations operating in the field of women should work according to the agreements signed with the relevant ministries as well as their priorities. Local communities look at enabling Yemeni women as a non-priority issue, isolated from ending political divisions, boosting national economy, and empowering both women and men to lead the development wheel. It has become important for the parties of the conflict to reactivate the traditional and legal protection systems. This is in addition to respecting cultural norms and customs that distance women from the repercussions and impacts of political rifts in a way that ensures protecting them and holding the culprits accountable. This will avoid making “women empowerment” limited to social justice and extend it to a long-term national strategy that improves the level of growth and stability, boosts the community peace, and activates the cultural system, especially if it is achieved according to a clear social consensus that resolves the cultural battle related to concepts and impacts.