Week 2-Activity Post

The question I am answering is how women in Yemen are treated and adding how have men and women responded to this treatment. The treatment of women is embarrassingly behind in equality with the men spearheading it, but the spirit of these women is just the opposite. This is obvious from how women were treated previous to the war, how the war has oppressed women more, and how the women still continue to fight. Women originally started off with no rights, child marriages, and no say in the politics (Counterfire). The tide seemed to be changing when women began to join the career field in respected positions, while slowly finding places in the government and policy making. However, when the government was taken hold of this was put on hold (Washington Institute). The times have reverted back to what originally was.

To start off, women in Yemen before the war and during continue to be treated as if they are worthless. Women are looked at as inferior and are discriminated against. When girls are young, they are married off to an older man. Some girls as young as eight have been taken out of school to be married. (The Guardian). Then, to make matters worse women are subjected to domestic violence and are sexually assaulted frequently. They are treated as “sex objects” for their husbands, while for the parents it’s one less mouth to feed (The Guardian). Furthermore, girls have no say in ending the marriage. Women are also way behind men in economic opportunity and healthcare treatments. It is especially bad for pregnant women giving birth, with seven women dying a day due to complications (Counterfire). Additionally, even when women obtain jobs, they are not fully respected, have to fight to defend their qualifications, and earn less.

Then, as women started to make progress, they were cast aside by threatened men. Before the coup the women had started making real progress like gaining seats in parliament and a new constitution giving them rights and political power. Now after the coup men in power of the new “democracies” and “peace negotiations” keep telling women “It’s not the time.” (Washington Institute) On the contrary, this is ironic because as the article shows men have created, escalated, and continued this war (Washington Institute). This whole idea of dealing with women’s rights later shows that men are afraid of getting theirs taken away, with women being equal. The men in power are also uninformed and seek out violence, and continue the oppression. They lead without logic and rule with fear. The article validly points out that “it will take decades for basic civil liberties—but especially those for women—to get back to where we were just three years ago..” (Washington Institute). Again, as men are threatened by empowerment, it’s not surprising the movement in a long conservative country would cause backlash.

Finally, despite the continuous beatdown women face in Yemen, they still stand up, fighting with smarts to combat the lack of logic they face. The women who were paying attention to the discrimination and inequality are now more motivated to gain their rights. Activists and feminists know that they cannot tell the man pointing at them with the gun that they have these rights, but they refuse to stop slowly trying to make it a part of their culture. Likewise, they have a Women’s Union to support women who are victims of domestic violence. They’re working to enforce laws to end child marriages too (Washington Institute). It’s clear from this mindset and acts of defiance these women participate in they won’t be stomped out easily.

To conclude, while men have tried to beat down and discourage Yemen women and girls from becoming empowered, they refuse the accept the current culture. They started making progress on political representation and equal rights, but then the government was overthrown, and they were cast aside. In spite of this women have continuously fought for their rights and shown that they were a force to be reckoned with. Although, their progress was stopped they play the long game and use logic against the conservative men to change the culture.

“Have We Forgotten the Women of Yemen?” Have We Forgotten the Women of Yemen? – The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/have-we-forgotten-the-women-of-yemen.

Arabia, Noon. “Yemen: the Worst Place for Women.” Counterfire, 30 Mar. 2012, www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/15675–yemen-the-worst-place-for-women.

Ramdani, Nabila. “’After the Wedding, Fear Set in’: a Yemeni Child Bride’s Story.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Oct. 2013, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/01/story-yemen-child-bride.

One thought on “Week 2-Activity Post

  1. I’m not too familiar with Yemen’s history or politics, but similar things have been witnessed across the Middle East and Northern Africa. Women are often on the front lines fighting for democracies, but when a new power comes in or there is a disruption in power, women find themselves the subject of subjugation.

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