Obstacles to Women's Participation in the Yemeni Scene During the War

 

More than 14 million women in Yemen live under the constraint of certain societal customs and traditions, the siege of religious groups, and the disregard of political organizations, despite the adoption by the United Nations Security Council of Resolution (1325) on women, peace and security in Yemen. This has reflected in the exclusion of women from influencing public life. However, women did not stand idly by, for pioneering Yemeni women emerged, who were able to succeed in reaching the forefront of society in various fields, and reaching positions of influence in the decision and membership of committees and international organizations. Moreover, despite the deliberate official and societal exclusion of women and the reduction of their presence in the public scene, many Yemeni women struggle to prove their presence in society, strive for qualification and development, and to participate in community activities, initiatives and political events. Most of these attempts were crowned with the success of Yemeni women in their strong participation in the political events of 2011. In addition, they were granted a quota for women at the National Dialogue Conference, the outcomes of which included emphasizing the role of women in society and their participation in public life.

The events of September 2014 and the start of the internal conflict represented a clear obstacle that stopped the wheel of participation of Yemeni women, which had recently started. Several political parties entered the arena to push the wheel of women back and replace them with the wheels of the tank and cannons with the outbreak of war in 2015. This led to the weakening of the role of women and their absence in many cases from active participation in society as a result of a number of obstacles that blocked the way of Yemeni women due to the war and the current crises.

This paper addressed the most prominent obstacles of the war that limited women's participation in the Yemeni scene, including: the decline in the application of constitutional and legal texts supporting the participation of Yemeni women in society, the restrictive practices against women during the war by the existing authorities, the promotion of the practice of customs and traditions that restrict women's participation in society, the discourse of religious and media incitement against women's participation in public life, the policy of gender segregation,  movement restrictions, and the impact of relief works on the human rights work of civil society.

The study also reached a set of recommendations that focused on the dimension of community awareness and advocacy campaigns to change the image and enhance women's participation in the Yemeni scene, the role of international organizations in promoting women's participation in society, and finally the pivotal role of decision-makers and official bodies in promoting women's participation in society as a constitutional and legal obligation within the framework of unified citizenship.