Yemeni Women Struggle to Step Forward

Yemeni women have played an integral role in the protests against ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year regime last year. But despite the country’s upcoming political ‘National Dialogue’ – brokered by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and intended to bring together a cross-section of Yemeni constituencies – females still face a wall of discriminatory laws and practices, and a status quo willing to enforce them. “Broken inside” is how a staff member describes Nadia, 25, at a Sanaa women’s shelter. From a rural, hilly village north of the capital, Nadia was forced into a ‘swap marriage’ to save her brother the high cost of a dowry. Commonly practised by impoverished families, it involved Nadia marrying into the family of her brother’s bride-to-be. The risk of the supposedly neat financial solution is if one couple breaks their part of the bargain and divorces, the other is forced to do the same. In this case, Nadia’s refusal to move in with her new husband had devastating consequences. When Nadia’s mother discovered her sons were planning to kill Nadia as punishment, both mother and daughter were expelled from the family home. Nadia started work as a maid for a local sheikh, but life got worse when he sold her for profit to a Yemeni labourer in Saudi Arabia. The final blow came when her new husband tried to force a pregnant Nadia into a life of prostitution with Saudi Arabian clientele. She ran away with her mother, eventually find...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Civil Society Civilisations Find Alliances Editors' Choice Featured Gender Gender Identity Gender Violence Global Governance Headlines Human Rights Middle East & North Africa Regional Categories Religion Women's Source Type: news