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Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Fifth periodic report of States parties

Yemen*

Republic of Yemen
High Council on the Status of Women
Women’s National Committee
NATIONAL REPORT ON PROGRESS TO DATE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Fifth periodic report
Sana’a, November 2001

Introduction
The Women’s National Committee has prepared this, its fifth periodic report, on the basis of statistical data from various years. A working group was established, made up of women members of the Committee under the direction of the Committee’s consultant, Dr. Abdulhakim al-Sharjabi. The working group completed its task in record time, thanks to the statistical data available from the Documentation Unit that was recently set up within the Committee.

Despite the fact that the interval between the preparation of the fourth and fifth reports has been no more than approximately one year, the advancement of the status of the women of Yemen has proceeded rapidly during that time. One example is the restructuring of the Committee itself, which has become the High Council on the Status of Women, and the broadening of its membership to include representatives of all Government ministries and a number of other Governmental agencies, as well as representatives of civil society (political parties, associations and the private sector). Other examples are the appointment of Yemen’s first woman ambassador and first woman Government minister. In addition, amendments to various discriminatory statutes have been formulated and given approval in principle by the Council of Ministers, in accordance with the true and tolerant Islamic Shari’ah and Yemen’s Constitution, which guarantees the rights of women on an equal footing with those of men in all areas of life.

The fourth report had a far-reaching impact in that it shed light on many issues of relevance for women, notably those reflected in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, including legal issues, issues of education, health issues, and so on.

The reader may find that in a good many instances, the statistical data contained in the fifth report are similar to their predecessors in the fourth report. However, the actual situation in the country has evolved considerably. Status of Women Directorates have been established in all Ministries, and these have served as connecting links to the Committee. In addition, a gender mainstreaming strategy has been developed in conjunction with the second Five-Year Plan, with forward-oriented thinking up to the year 2025. We may note at this point that during this period, particular emphasis has been placed on the struggle against poverty and the effort to alleviate it. The Committee is participating in the work of the task force responsible for the strategy, in order to ensure that the status of women is included as a component of it, and is receiving support and esteem from all the individuals and organizations concerned.

As regards civil society, many associations concerned with the status of women have been founded, and the number of women members of political parties has increased. Moreover, a businesswomen’s association has recently been established, marking women’s first steps into the private sector.

Important as these accomplishments have been, the fact remains that there is still a gap between men and women in the matter of leadership positions and political office. In some instances, moreover, provisions of the law have not been implemented in practice.

The report was considered at a workshop with a membership consisting of a number of prominent women leaders and specialists and chaired by Dr. Wahiba Faraa, Minister of State for Human Rights. A number of alterations were made to the text in accordance with the conclusions and suggestions of the workshop.

In conclusion, I should like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the members of the working group and the Committee’s consultant for their invaluable efforts in drafting this report and having it ready for presentation in time to meet the deadline set by the United Nations.

I wish to express special thanks to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for defraying the cost of updating and reprinting the report.

May God grant success to all in matters of benefit to the nation

Rashida al-Hamdani
Chair, Women’s National Committee

PART I

General background

The Republic of Yemen is located in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Its area is 555 000 square kilometres (exclusive of the Empty Quarter). It is bounded on the north by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the south by the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, on the east by the Sultanate of Oman, and on the west by the Red Sea. To the southwest is the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, with the island of Mayoun (Perim), which is part of Yemen, in the midst of it, dominating the approaches to the Red Sea. Socotra, the largest of Yemen’s islands, with an area of 365 square kilometres, lies in the Arabian Sea 510 kilometres from the coast. In the Red Sea, there are more than 112 islands that belong to Yemen, including Kamaran, Greater Hunaish, Lesser Hunaish, Zuqur, Al-Zubair, Al-Tair, and many others.

Islam is the State religion and the source of the legitimacy of Yemen’s Constitution and laws.

The population of the Republic, according to projections for the year 2000, is approximately 18 261 000. The country is divided into 19 Governorates and the National Capital Region.

Different Governorates are characterized by widely disparate population densities; for the country as a whole, however, population density is approximately 30 persons per square kilometre.

Population data (projections for the year 2000)

Source: Central Statistics Organization, Ministry of Planning and Development, Statistical Yearbook, Sana’a, June 2001.

TABLE 1

Notes: Dependency ratio per 100 inhabitants in the 15-64 age bracket.
Actual dependency ratio per 100 economically active inhabitants
Economic dependency ratio per 100 economically active inhabitants including the head of the family.



TABLE 2

Economic situation

Yemen’s economy is currently in the grip of a severe crisis, the first signs of which appeared in the 1980s. The crisis has been accompanied by a number of far-reaching political and economic changes, which undoubtedly helped bring it on. The first of these changes was the reunification of the country in May 1990, with the resultant merging of two different economies, both backward. The second was the Gulf crisis of August 1990, as a result of which hundreds of thousands of expatriate Yemenis returned from the Gulf States, where they had been working. At the same time, the volume of foreign aid and loans dwindled or was cut off altogether, while the level of domestic savings remained low. As a result, poverty in the country not only continued but became worse. These factors have affected women in various ways, the most important of which are discussed below.

(a) Population growth

Yemen’s population growth is approximately 3.5 per cent annually, one of the highest rates in the world, far outstripping economic growth and social and environmental development. Gross domestic product (GDP), for its part, grew during the 1990s at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent in constant price terms, or 27.7 per cent in current price terms, while inflation ran at an annual rate of over 75.8 per cent. The country’s population growth constitutes a barrier to improved living conditions and individual welfare, inasmuch as the greater the rate of population increase, the smaller the share of such basic services as education, health, water and housing that is available to each individual. This population growth, incommensurate as it is with the society’s economic resources, is adversely affecting all social groups, but is having a particularly severe impact on women, who find themselves confronted with a number of interrelated problems in such areas as nutrition, education, health and various aspects of social welfare. Their situation is aggravated by the fact that they live in a traditional society that still pays more attention to men and gives them priority in terms of services.

(b) Low per capita income

There has been a marked increase in average family size in Yemen, owing to population growth. According to the 1999 labour force survey, for the country as a whole, the average number of individuals per family is 7.7. In the case of poor families, the figure is 8.5 individuals, compared to 5.9 individuals in the case of better-off families.

Individual income in Yemen is very low by comparison with the constantly increasing cost of living and growing demand for the necessities of life. Per capita gross national product (GNP) was 9 550 rials in 1990 and 65 414 rials in 2000. Table 4 shows GNP, GDP and per capita GNP. Yemen’s national income was approximately 122 817 million rials in 1990; in 2000, it was approximately 1 323 620 million rials.

Remittances sent home by Yemenis working abroad, after peaking at $809.2 million in 1985, declined steadily to $120 million per year in the course of the subsequent years, finally ceasing altogether in the aftermath of the Gulf crisis in August 1990.

TABLE 3 Remittances from Yemenis working abroad, 1975-1990

TABLE 4 GDP, GNP and GNP per capita, 1995-2000

Political and legal situation

Yemen’s legislation has evolved considerably in recent years, especially since the country’s unification on 22 May 1990, in response to the economic, social and political changes that have taken place. All law, however—civil, criminal, administrative or relating to personal status—is derived from Islamic law (the Shari’ah).

PART II

Articles 1-4

General and legal measures aimed at eliminating discrimination against women,
promoting their development and advancing their status

Article 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women defines discrimination against women as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women… of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social cultural, civil or any other field.” Under Article 2 of the Convention, Governments undertake to eliminate discrimination against women and to establish equality through constitutional, legislative and other means. This is emphasized in Article 3, which calls upon Governments to take positive measures to ensure the full development and advancement of women.

In the light of these articles, we may now turn to a consideration of the general policies and legal measures aimed at ensuring equality between the sexes in Yemen’s constitutional and legal context.

The Constitution of the Republic of Yemen

The Constitution of the Republic was promulgated on 1 December 1994 and amended in the year 2000. All its terms and provisions are based on Islamic law, the Shari’ah. The Constitution affirms that laws and regulations are issued only to secure citizens’ rights: Article 24 states, “The State shall guarantee equal opportunity in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres for all citizens, and shall enact laws to that end.” Citizens, of course, include both men and women. This is one means whereby the full development and advancement of women are ensured. It is also incumbent upon all States to ensure the welfare of mothers and children, and Yemen’s Constitution includes provisions designed to serve that purpose: Article 30 states, “The State shall protect the welfare of mothers and children, and shall care for adolescents and young people.” The Constitution enshrines the principle of equal rights and duties for all citizens: Article 31 states, “Women and men are sisters and brothers, enjoying the same rights and subject to the same responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of the Shari’ah and the law.” Article 48, paragraph 1, states, “The State shall guarantee the personal freedom and preserve the dignity and security of all citizens. The law shall define the circumstances in which a citizen’s freedom may be restricted, but no person’s freedom shall be restricted except pursuant to a judgement made by a competent court.” Article 58 deals with political rights; it states, “Citizens throughout the Republic shall have the right to organize political parties, professional associations and trade unions, to found scientific, cultural and social organizations and to establish national societies, insofar as such activities are not incompatible with the provisions of the Constitution and serve its purposes. The State shall guarantee that right and shall employ all necessary means to enable citizens to exercise it, and shall ensure the freedom of political, cultural, scientific and social associations and trade unions.” It will be seen from the foregoing that all citizens of Yemen enjoy equal rights, with no discrimination between men and women.

• The General Elections Law (Law No. 27 of 2001)

The General Elections Law was enacted in 1996. However, owing to the democratic course on which Yemen has embarked and the broadening of the scope of power and responsibility enshrined in its policy of administrative decentralization, elections for the first level of power (local assemblies) were held in February 2001, i.e. after the enactment of the General Elections Law of 1996. This led to revision of the law to bring it into line with the changes that had taken place, and in the end a new law, the General Elections and Referendum Law, was enacted in 2001 (Law No. 27 of 2001). Under the new law, as under the old, women had the right to vote, to stand as candidates and to participate in constitutional referendums on an equal footing with men, both women and men being deemed fully competent and responsible. However, because there are still substantial administrative, organizational and social obstacles that may tend to prevent women from enjoying these legal rights, the new law includes a special “regardless of gender” provision designed expressly to encourage women to exercise their electoral rights.

• The Local Authorities Law (Law No. 4 of 2000)

This is a law that organizes elections for and the establishment of local assemblies for districts and Governorates. It was drafted in response to the evolving situation in Yemen and as a means of giving effect to the principle of administrative decentralization. Under this law, women have the right to vote and stand as candidates for the local assemblies of districts or Governorates on an equal footing with men; the law does not discriminate in any way. The conditions applicable to candidates are the same for women as for men. Gender is not a precondition either of the right to vote or of the right to stand for election.

• The Judiciary Law (Law No. 1 of 1991)

This law gives women the right to be members of the judiciary. They may serve as judges and as public prosecutors. The list of conditions applicable to holders of these posts does not include the requirement that incumbents must be male; those conditions are general in nature and are equally applicable to both sexes. Yemen is one of the few Arab States of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region to have granted women this right. In 1997, women members of the judiciary included 14 judges, 53 lawyers and 25 holders of posts in public prosecutors’ offices. More recent developments have included the appointment of a number of women as deputy prosecutors. In 2000, a women’s police force was established. Its officers perform the same tasks in maintaining order and keeping the peace as their male counterparts.

• The Law of Criminal Procedure (Law No. 13 of 1994)

This law includes special provisions for women, taking into consideration the situation of pregnant and nursing women and women with young children in their care. Article 484 stipulates that a death sentence or penalty prescribed by Islamic law shall be stayed for a pregnant or nursing woman, in the former case, until the child is born, and in the latter, until the child is weaned, and even then, the penalty shall be applied only provided there is someone available to care for the child. Under this law, a sentence involving deprivation of freedom may be suspended for a pregnant woman until she has given birth and for not less than two months thereafter, and the law stipulates that the convicted woman shall be given special treatment appropriate to her condition. In addition, the provisions of this law are framed with a view to protecting the human rights of women and men on a basis of equality, especially as regards family matters.

Moreover, the law affirms the freedom and dignity of women by stating that no woman detainee shall be searched by a man; a woman may be searched only by another woman. This guarantees that a woman detainee is not at risk of being robbed or subjected to an affront to her honour or modesty.

• The Criminal Code (Law No. 12 of 1994)

The Criminal Code defines acts that are deemed to be criminal in nature and specifies appropriate penalties. It does not concern itself with women as such or with men as such, but rather with criminal behaviour, crime and punishment. Accordingly, it does not discriminate between men and women in any way. Any man or woman who commits a criminal act, as defined in the Criminal Code, is subject to the prescribed penalty for that act, without discrimination.

It should be noted, however, that under the Code, a husband who catches his wife in the act of adultery and kills her along with her partner is not charged with murder. The same applies to a man who kills a female ascendant or descendant or a sister whom he catches in the act of adultery. Article 232 of the Code states, “A husband who catches his wife in the act of adultery and kills her along with her partner, or subjects them to violence resulting in death or disablement, shall not be charged with murder, but shall be subject only to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine. The same shall apply to a man who kills a female ascendant or descendant or sister whom he catches in the act of adultery.”

It thus appears that under this article, a man is allowed to kill his wife or a female ascendant or descendant or sister whom he catches in the act of adultery, but the same tolerance is not extended to a woman who catches her husband in the act of adultery; a woman who killed her husband under those circumstances would be charged with murder.

Clearly, it would be desirable either for this article to be removed from the Code, or for the same rights in the matter to be extended to women. The Women’s National Committee has taken up the matter, and has submitted a report to the Council of Ministers requesting amendment of Article 232 of the Criminal Code and similar articles in other statutes. A provision of that kind is nothing but a legalized justification for killing, which unscrupulous persons might use as an excuse for doing away with their wives.

• The Nationality Law

Under this law, women enjoy equal rights with men as regards the acquisition of citizenship; the law does not discriminate between the sexes in any way. However, the law does state that children born to a Yemeni woman married to a foreigner are prohibited from acquiring their mother’s nationality. See also the section of this report dealing with Article 9 of the Convention.

• The Civil Service Law (Law No. 19 of 1999)

This law clearly states that appointments to Civil Service posts are made on the basis of the principle of equal opportunity, and guarantees equal rights for all citizens, without favouritism or discrimination. It expressly gives women the right to hold posts for which they are suited by nature. See also the section of this report dealing with Article 11 of the Convention.

• The Labour Code (Law No. 5 of 1995)

Many women work in the private sector, and in view of the nature of that sector and the dominance exercised by businessmen, the exploitation of women workers is a possibility. The Labour Code addresses that risk by stipulating that women have a right to work on an equal footing with men. The Code sets forth the conditions governing working women and guarantees their rights. A special section of the Code is devoted to the matter. See also the section of this report dealing with Article 11 of the Convention.

• The Social Insurance Law (Law No. 26 of 1991)

Under this law, the rights of insured persons of both sexes are protected. However, women are entitled to begin drawing old age pension benefits at the age of 55, whereas men are not entitled to begin drawing those benefits until they reach the age of 60, subject in both cases to the condition that the insured person must have been contributing to the pension plan for not less than 15 years. Alternatively, a woman may begin drawing her benefits once she has made 300 contribution payments, regardless of her age; the corresponding figure for a man is 360.

This law applies to all State employees and all workers, men and women, in both the public sector and the mixed sector. It grants women many privileges in consideration of their social and family situation.

• The Social Welfare Law (Law No. 21 of 1996)

The Social Welfare Law was enacted in 1996 and subsequently amended by Law No. 17 of 1999. This law was enacted to address structural defects in the financial and administrative economic reform programme, which had resulted in hardship for various social categories and population groups, such as low-income people, orphans, and women having no one to maintain them.

• The Education Law (Law No. 45 of 1992)

Under this law, the sexes are on an equal footing with respect to the right to benefit from the opportunities offered by the country’s educational institutions. The law provides that girls are entitled to access to education in accordance with their aptitudes and abilities, no less than boys.

The progress achieved in recent years, especially the 1990s, points up the fact that there have been many positive changes in Yemen’s legislation, and this suggests that we shall do well to undertake an in-depth analysis of the content of the laws in question, encompassing as they do much of the changing social situation of women, which is bound up with the country’s evolving social, economic and political conditions, customs and value system, and the role and image of women. Upon doing so, we arrive at the conclusion that for the most part, Yemen’s changing laws simply reflect political, economic and social change generally. That is why the position of women has begun to change, and society at large, and decision-makers in particular, have had to learn to adjust to the new context. Girls are attending school in ever-growing numbers, and women have fearlessly entered many areas of the labour market and public life, with the result that they now participate substantially in political parties and organizations and professional associations.

The fact remains that it is urgently necessary to activate these laws in order to put an end to the discrimination that still subsists, owing to the way their provisions have sometimes been interpreted. It is also urgently necessary to alter the traditional perception of the respective places and roles of men and women, reinforced as it is by a social value system that has acted as a brake on the integration of women in the public sphere and made it difficult for them fully to exercise their equal rights under the law, in accordance with the Convention, which Yemen has ratified and which has entered into force.

It is essential for the content of the Convention to be published and for awareness of its provisions to be disseminated and publicized, so that it will be known and taken legally and officially into account by all relevant administrative bodies, judges, lawyers and national human rights organizations. The formal difficulties that stand in the way of the application of Yemen’s laws enshrining equal rights for both sexes must be addressed, and practical measures for the effective enforcement of the provisions of those laws must be devised.

An effective approach to dealing with obstacles to the implementation of the Convention would begin with an inquiry into the underlying reasons why Yemen’s national legislation in the matter and international conventions, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, have not been applied in full. It is essential to have a clear picture of the most important gains that have actually been achieved, and of the various remaining forms of discrimination. Yemeni women’s actual accomplishments are still not commensurate with their rights as legally and socially recognized, the rights for which they have struggled and which the Government supports, aware as it is of their importance and of the fact that women are full citizens. The rights that women have won must be strengthened in acknowledgement of the meaningful role that they have to play within their families and in society, as otherwise the gains achieved to date may ultimately be lost. Women’s individual, social and political rights must be reinforced, and women must continue to demand their rights and recognition of those rights.

In addition, it is of the utmost importance that we continue to work for the introduction, without delay, of legislative amendments that enshrine the principle of legal equality in accordance with the Shari’ah. The law must be made consistent with women’s capabilities and their importance as an effective element of society. There are still residual social and psychological attitudes that affect our situation; once these have been dealt with, it will become easier for us to live with the changes that are occurring today, and to seek to have the laws updated and adjusted so that they are more appropriate in terms of the new reality.

• The Optional Protocol to the Convention

In order to follow progress made by States Parties in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in 1996 the Commission on the Status of Women established an open-ended working group with the task of drafting an Optional Protocol of a procedural nature. The Optional Protocol was duly drafted, and the working group proceeded to discuss it in that same year. In 1998 the working group completed its second reading of the draft text. In 1999, at the forty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which meets yearly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the delegations decided that the Commission should consider the final draft text before meeting to discuss preparations for the special session of the General Assembly which was to be held in New York in June 2000 on the theme “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”. In the event, the Protocol was submitted to the General Assembly and adopted in 1999. It subsequently entered into force following ratification by 10 States Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. We may note at this point that as of March 1999, the Convention had been ratified by 163 States.

The Protocol contains 24 articles covering a number of aspects that are not included in the Convention. It reviews the various international instruments and conventions that provide for equal human rights for men and women, including the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights (i.e. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), the Vienna Declaration adopted at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which acknowledged the need for an optional protocol to the Convention, and finally the Beijing Platform for Action, which urged that work on such a protocol should begin as soon as possible. In view of the importance of the Optional Protocol, it is essential for Yemen to ratify it, especially since Yemen is a State Party to the Convention. At the present time, the Protocol is being vigorously discussed and debated by all relevant authorities in Yemen, and it appears probable that it will soon be ratified, inasmuch as Yemen objected to only one article of the Convention.

• The National Population Policy 2001-2025

The National Population Policy for 2001-2025 extends and updates the Population Plan of Action for 1996-2000, which was concerned with the care of the elderly. Its objectives include the following:
1. Action, through appropriate mechanisms, to strengthen the autonomy of elderly persons, and the provision of conditions conducive to enhancement of their quality of life;
2. Establishment of a health care system alongside the old age economic and social security system, with particular attention to the needs of elderly women;
3. Establishment of a social support system, both formal and informal, with a view to making it easier for families to care for elderly persons in the home.

• The changing function of the family in our society

Our society is currently evolving, and the process has been accompanied by many changes, which have had a particularly severe impact on low-income families. Many such families are no longer able to sustain themselves, and both adults and children have experienced hardship, despite increased outlays by the Government for economic and social assistance, besides the support provided by the extended family system in rural areas. Poverty is increasing among rural families, and the nuclear family has made its appearance in the cities.

Owing to these various factors, the issue of care of the elderly has been receiving more attention in Yemen in recent years. As a result of the changing function of the family, it has become necessary to provide more institutional services and accommodation for elderly persons, especially those who are disabled or whose families are poverty-stricken.

• Institutions for the care of elderly persons

The care of elderly persons is a matter to which the State has given its attention, in accordance with the Population Plan of Action and the National Policy. The country has four institutions that provide care and accommodation for the elderly, including one each in the cities of Sana’a , Ta’iz, Hodeida and Aden. The Centre for the Care of the Elderly in the capital, Sana’a, currently serves 82 elderly persons, both men and women. In Ta’iz Governorate there is a similar centre, which currently accommodates 40 people, of whom 25 are men and 15 women. The centre in Hodeida Governorate has a clientele of 120 elderly persons in all, including both men and women, while its counterpart in Aden serves 73 men and 16 women. All told, then, there are 331 elderly persons receiving services. The four centres have a total of 73 staff members.

Non-governmental organizations, for their part, have no programmes or activities expressly dedicated to the elderly. They provide training programmes for women in various fields, but these are not concerned with elderly persons as such. These organizations should be encouraged to offer programmes and activities that focus on the issues of care and rehabilitation for elderly persons of both sexes, with special attention to low-income and disabled women, who often have to live in difficult circumstances and consequently are particularly in need of appropriate care and rehabilitation services.

The present report focuses primarily on the matter of care for elderly women in particular, since women tend to live longer than men. Among elderly persons in general, for every 100 men, there are 190 women. In the over-80 age group, there are 181 women for every 100 men; in the over-90 age group, there are 287, and in the over-100 age group, there are 286 women for every 100 men.

Old age is a social concept: it is society that gives different individuals different life expectancies, depending on gender and on social and cultural values and criteria. Different individuals are assigned different roles in society. In Yemeni society, for example, the social values that dictate the age of marriage for men and women respectively usually result in husbands’ being older than their wives. This is especially true for families that do not have much education and rural families.

• The problems of elderly women

It is sometimes impossible for elderly women to acquire land, property or other resources, although there are no formal legal obstacles. Health services for elderly women are inadequate, and consequently they sometimes suffer from malnutrition, especially in rural areas. Poverty is increasing among elderly women, with the result that they live under very difficult conditions, aggravated by the fact that they lack social and economic security and tend to be uninformed and illiterate. The ranks of poverty-stricken elderly women are growing at a more rapid rate than are those of elderly men.

• Problems facing families and women where the head of the family has emigrated

Emigrants who have returned to Yemen after having spent some time abroad, and their wives and families, have had to face many problems, of which the most important are the following:

- Difficulty in re-entering the labour market, especially after the return of 715 924 emigrants. Only 38 390 of these returning emigrants (5.3 per cent) have found employment, while another 131 064 (18.3 per cent) are pursuing their educations. The remaining 546 470 (76.4 per cent) are unemployed.

There is thus a domestic labour surplus, at a time when Yemen’s economy is creating no more than an estimated 18 000 to 19 000 new jobs yearly.

This situation has given rise to numerous problems which have had an adverse impact on the returning emigrant workers themselves and on their families, notably the women.

- The industrial experience and skills that returning Yemeni workers had acquired in the oil-producing States were often not appropriate in terms of the domestic labour market or the needs of Yemen’s economy.

- Since the mid-1980s, most emigrant Yemeni workers had worked in the commercial and services sector, rather than in industry. Of 51 920 workers who had had sales or other commercial jobs in the Gulf, only 13 015 have been able to find similar jobs upon their return to Yemen.

- In the Gulf States, the commercial and services sector functions on an advanced infrastructure; the returning emigrant worker found nothing comparable in Yemen. However, the phenomenon of emigration and return has had some positive aspects. For one thing, only 0.81 per cent of the returning workers have been employed in the agriculture sector, despite the fact that 3.2 per cent of them had had agriculture-related jobs before emigrating. This is attributable to the fact that even though many of the returning Yemeni workers initially turned to the agriculture sector, substantial numbers of them have since taken jobs working for contractors in the construction and building sector.

In particular, Yemeni women who have returned after having emigrated, especially those who have lost their husbands since returning to Yemen, have been confronted with many problems. They have had to support their families at an age when they are unlikely to find work, especially in view of the obstacles placed in their way by social customs and traditions, according to which the employment of women is restricted to such activities as domestic service work in private homes or office jobs.

Housing is one of the most serious problems facing Yemenis returning home after working outside the country. As a rule, the entire family had emigrated with the intention of remaining abroad for an extended period of time. The economic circumstances of many of those families had been such that they could not afford to acquire a home in Yemen. Statistical data in some reports have indicated that approximately 73.6 per cent of all returning heads of families (232 369 individuals out of a total of 318 564) have no homes.

This situation has led to the appearance of makeshift dwellings on State-owned land in some parts of Yemen, such as Hodeida and Aden. The number of families squatting in such makeshift dwellings in those areas is estimated at 12 300. It is true that the phenomenon predates the Gulf crisis, but the return of large numbers of Yemeni emigrant workers after that crisis has undoubtedly aggravated the problem. Surveys show that the number of squatters living in makeshift housing in Aden was approximately 15 000 before the Gulf crisis, but 35 000 after it. Furthermore, the families in question are characterized by their large size: they average 9.6 persons, compared to an average family size of between 6 and 9 persons for Yemen as a whole. Approximately 75 per cent of these families live below the poverty line, relying mainly on assistance and donations of food.

Unemployment among those of them who are able-bodied is 73 per cent, while 12.4 per cent of all persons in that category have only temporary work. The children of 32.6 per cent of these families are not attending school. And, as noted, these returning emigrants are seriously in need of housing. Because of these various problems, returning emigrant women and their families find themselves very badly off economically and socially, and their situation becomes even worse when they no longer have the opportunity of earning steady income, such as the heads of families formerly enjoyed while working abroad. The most serious problems confronting returning emigrant families are:
- Inadequate social services and basic services:
1 – Investment in new schools has been cut off as a result of the Government’s budget deficit;
2 – The number of pupils per teacher rose from 60 in 1991 to 75 in 1999; the corresponding figure for rural
areas is 50 pupils per teacher;
3 - The number of girls of school age has increased to 157 000 as a result of the phenomenon of emigration and return; the returning emigrants have brought 28 000 children with them;
4 – Social services are unable to deal with the problems arising from the returning emigrant workers. In particular, only 40 centres are available in the context of social development programmes;
5 – Welfare services cannot cope with the problems arising from the return of the emigrant workers; indeed, they have effectively ceased to be available, owing to a variety of economic and social factors.
6 – Returning emigrant women and their families have also been affected by Yemen’s deteriorating health care services, increasing poverty and malnutrition, and the spread of contagious diseases, especially among squatters living in makeshift housing.

• Disabled women

There are no precise statistical indicators on numbers of disabled women and girls in Yemen, nor, indeed, on disabled persons in general. As far as can be gathered from surveys, publications and reports, there are 36 852 disabled women out of a total of 78 461 disabled persons, i.e. women account for 47 per cent of Yemen’s disabled and men for 53 per cent. Ninety-five per cent of disabled women are illiterate. Rehabilitation projects in the Governorates of Aden, Lahej, Abyan, Ta’iz and Ibb are working with a total of 1 032 disabled children.

The State has established two centres for the care of disabled persons in the Governorates of Aden and Sana’a. These centres serve persons who are blind, deaf or dumb. Some of them are entitled to stipends of 500 rials monthly, a sum which does not even cover their transport needs. There is a centre for people who need artificial limbs, but it relies on local industries whose products are not always satisfactory. They are also expensive: an artificial limb may cost 5 000 rials or more, depending on the type of limb.

• The National Strategy and Plan of Action for the Care of Disabled Persons

Neither the National Strategy and Plan of Action for the Care of Disabled Persons nor governmental and non-governmental projects have taken the needs of disabled women adequately into account in terms of care, rehabilitation and integration into society. Disabled women have not been offered opportunities for education, training or skills development. Furthermore, they continue to be confronted with obstacles of every kind, as in the matter of access to buildings, as well as social, cultural and psychological barriers. What is needed is training for women and girls as specialized technicians in the fields of care of the disabled, special education, skills development and vocational training. Low-cost medical services should be made available and/or expanded in both rural and urban areas. Disabled women should be guaranteed the services of helpers and should be provided with mechanical and other devices that minimize the impact of their disabilities and help them perform household tasks. Awareness campaigns targeting the families of disabled women and society at large would also be useful.

Problems of disabled women

In general, disabled women have not been able to rely on their families for health care, as disabled men have. As a result, they are subject to a host of disorders, such as inflammations of the genital tract, curvature of the spine and atrophy of the muscles, which intensify their suffering and cause their health to deteriorate. A woman with a motor disability can seldom hope to marry; depending on the type of disability she has, if she does marry, her husband is likely to be a disabled man who will expect her to serve him. A disabled man, in contrast, will seek to marry an able-bodied woman who will look after him and bear him healthy children. Elderly disabled women cannot hope to be adequately looked after by their families, as neither family nor society accepts them, nor can they expect care and rehabilitation services that are appropriate in terms of their type of disability and their age. Their motor or sensory disabilities thus become aggravated by the addition of a psychological disability, and they find themselves living in complete isolation from society.

There are numerous associations in Yemen that are concerned with disability-related issues. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is the Al-Tahaddi Association for the Care of Disabled Women, which was founded in 1998. However, it needs support and assistance for its services to disabled girls and women, and to that end it is seeking to join forces with other organizations and associations in developing programmes and projects in the areas of rehabilitation, training, awareness generation, culture and guidance. The Association’s aim is to put an end to all forms of discriminatory practices that disabled women have to face.

• The Law on the Care and Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (Law No. 61 of 1999)

This law seeks to address the issues of the rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons. Article 4 of the law states, “Every disabled person is entitled to vocational rehabilitation services and social care provided by specialized institutions and centres.” Articles 15-24 are concerned with issues relating to the employment of disabled persons.

Article 5

Women and men and stereotyped roles

Cultural or traditional practices that impede the advancement of women in Yemeni society

The system of traditional social and cultural values and practices that is part of Yemen’s heritage continues to exert its effects today. Unfortunately, that system tends to regard women as beings of lesser ability than men, and the result is a gender gap in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres. For that reason, women have not contributed very meaningfully to the process of social development, despite the fact that the country’s laws, based on the Islamic Shari’ah, guarantee full human rights for women.

The most salient phenomena that affect the situation of women and their participation in the development process are as follows:
1. A low level of social awareness;
2. Economic dependence on men;
3. The distinction that is drawn between women and men. Yemeni society persists in defining women’s role in terms of procreation exclusively, and this has tended to consolidate male dominance, with the result that the burden borne by women is made all the heavier in a context of changing economic and social roles;
4. Early marriage. There is a high incidence of early marriage among Yemeni women, owing to custom and tradition.

There are also various economic, social, cultural and environmental pressures that have had an adverse impact on the status of Yemeni women. These include:
• Limited school attendance by girls at the primary, secondary and university levels;
• A tendency for girls to drop out of school
• Poor health conditions that put women’s lives at risk;
• Social disruption resulting from divorce-related issues;
• The hazards of child-rearing, resulting from early marriage.

The role of Islam in the advancement of women

Islam has defined the position and responsibilities of women within a system of human values. The Koran states, “Believing men and believing women are each other’s guardians, recommending that which is righteous and enjoining from that which is evil” (al-Tawbah, v. 71). As will be seen from this passage, Islam treats men and women as equal in terms of rights, duties and public responsibilities. A woman has the right to choose and to decide in the matter of her marriage, and she has the right to dissolve the marriage if she declares herself independent of her husband, or if she can produce evidence that her husband is unable to perform his duties adequately. A woman also has the right to seek a divorce if she decides that there is no way for her and her husband to continue their married life. In addition, she has the right to limit the size of her family. A husband must secure his wife’s consent if he wishes to separate from her. A woman is not restricted to a role as a mother and housekeeper; Islam allows her to enjoy an independent economic personality, with full freedom and legal competence to engage in commercial transactions, agriculture and stock-raising, and all activities of family and social life. In the political sphere, women may engage in all kinds of work; there is nothing to prevent a woman from becoming a doctor, teacher, judge or legal expert. Neither her family nor her husband may stand in her way or deny her in any way against her will. The Koran is again relevant: it says “Do not covet those things in which God has bestowed His gifts more freely on some of you than on others; to men is allotted what they earn, and to women is allotted what they earn.” (al-Nisa’, v. 32).

Equality and non-discrimination between men and women in respect of rights are enshrined in Yemen’s laws and public policy. Under Article 31 of the 1994 Constitution, as amended in 2001, “Women and men are sister and brothers, enjoying the same rights and subject to the same responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of the Shari’ah and the law.” Article 42 guarantees the right of all citizens to participate in the country’s political, economic, social and cultural affairs.

In Yemen, both men and women have various economic, social, cultural and environmental roles to play. Some functions belong exclusively to women in their capacity as mothers and housekeepers. In rural areas, they also gather firewood, carry water and do farm work. These are unpaid tasks which are deemed, from a social standpoint, to be non-economic in nature, and thus they do not constitute work in the same sense as the work performed by the labour force.

Public works have been a major contributing factor in the advancement of Yemeni women and their evolving roles in society. According to the 1999 labour force survey, however, women accounted for only 23.7 per cent of all those employed on public works in that year; this is a very small figure compared with the corresponding figure for men so employed.

The distribution of roles between men and women in Yemen is affected by many factors, including the weight of history. According to the results of the 1994 census, 71.9 per cent of all Yemeni women work in the context of the household, compared to 9.5 per cent of Yemeni men. In this connection, it is important to realize that men have more decision-making power than women, and this is a significant aspect of male dominance in the matter of resource use and disposal of the family income. The needs of men and women in society are different, and consequently it is essential for those needs to be defined and priorities set. It is basically the responsibility of those who use the data and statistical indicators and public policy makers to ensure that these factors are taken into account in the process of development planning.

Seventy per cent of all caregivers are women in the 15-44 age group, a figure that clearly shows how much time and effort women devote to this important matter. Women account for 21.8 per cent of the total labour force. This low figure is attributable to the fact that in Yemeni society, most women are housekeepers. In urban areas, women represent 11.5 per cent of the labour force, while in rural areas the corresponding figure is 25.5. This disparity is due to the fact that in rural areas, women do much of the agricultural work, accounting for 87.24 per cent of the total farm labour force in 1999. As regards the distribution of economically active persons by work status, in urban areas, the majority of both men and women engage in paid employment, whereas in rural areas, most women either perform household tasks within their own family context without pay, or perform the same kind of tasks for some other family for pay, while all employment for men is paid employment.

It is thus clear that the status of women is not satisfactory in various respects, and in particular with respect to women’s ability to defend their basic rights as human beings and their right to share on a partnership basis in rights, obligations and responsibilities and hold positions, thereby strengthening their role in the family and in society.

The roles of men and women in society: aspirations for the future

The roles assigned to both women and men are contingent on an array of standards, factors and considerations, of which the following are some of the most important:

- The adoption of positive social values and standards that will contribute to the advancement of women and their situation within the family and in society. Public opinion should be encouraged to support women’s issues from an advanced social perspective with a view to making progress toward these ends;

- Promotion of a positive change in the attitudes of both women and men, and elimination of the restrictive view of women as housekeepers and child-raisers exclusively;

- More educational opportunities for girls as well as boys, through the development of awareness of the importance of educating girls as a means of attaining a higher level of awareness within the family and in society in general;

- Action to intensify awareness campaigns and educate families and society about issues of concern to both men and women, with emphasis on their complementary roles in all areas of life;

- More opportunities for women in the fields of education, training, skills development and employment as a means of enabling them to accede to decision-making posts;

- A new emphasis in the media on the changing roles of men and women in society and within the family, and acceptance of women in leadership positions in public life and in politics and the professions, not to downgrade the position of men, but to ensure that women participate fully in the life of the family and of society;

- Support for governmental and non-governmental organizations working for gender mainstreaming, to ensure that they can continue with their efforts with a view to laying the groundwork in preparation for a supportive climate for women’s issues and a positive outlook and orientation in that connection;

- A comprehensive awareness of the family, including awareness of the importance of forging links within the family and eliminating comparisons between boys and girls that reflect negatively on the latter and weaken the role and position of women in family life and public life, as well as restricting their opportunities of participating actively in the various areas of social activity.

Measures taken to date to change social and cultural patterns

The Government was well aware of the need to change the roles and position of women, realizing as it did that the existing situation would have to be altered so that future challenges could be successfully met. It therefore prepared the Population Plan of Action of 1996, which was approved by the National Population Council on 14 July 1997 and by the Council of Ministers on 30 September 1997, and which was subsequently extended and updated by the National Population Policy for 2001-2025. These instruments are designed to empower women, to advance their social, economic and political situation, and to enhance their ability to participate in decision-making at all levels. To that end, a number of objectives have been formulated and various measures taken, including the following:

Objectives

- Equality and fairness based on harmonious participation by men and women in all areas of family and social life in the light of the provisions of the Islamic Shari’ah;

- Enhancement of women’s contributions to sustainable development through full participation in policy development and decision-making and sharing in all aspects of production, both contributing and enjoying a share of the benefits;

- Educational opportunities for women to enable them to meet their basic needs;

- Utilization of women’s abilities to the fullest extent as a means of fostering their self-confidence and confidence in their capabilities, beginning in childhood.

Measures

- Planning and implementation of information programmes designed to enhance both men’s and women’s awareness of the importance of building a positive value system featuring just treatment for women and fuller participation by women in development;

- Establishment of the necessary mechanisms to ensure that women are able to participate equally and be fairly represented at all levels in political and public life;

- Organization of a national literacy campaign aimed expressly at women in the context of the overall national literacy campaign;

- Support for the enactment and enforcement of laws and regulations aimed at enabling women to play an active role in society alongside their roles as mothers and wives;

- Enrichment of school curricula and awareness programmes by the addition of subjects that will help instil a positive view of girls and women in the minds of all members of society, beginning in the early years of life, along with an understanding of the concept of shared responsibilities in all areas of family life;

- Action to make women aware of their rights under the country’s legislation, especially the Law of Personal Status, with a view to changing attitudes and addressing the issue of a society that regards women as defective and not fully competent.

The image of women in school textbooks and the media

Yemen’s information policy has defined a number of working orientations with respect to women’s issues. These include an effort to present a more positive image of women in school textbooks and the media with a view to rectifying concepts relating to gender roles, in accordance with the changes currently taking place in society, which the information policy is designed to reflect. An information strategy has been developed to ensure that women’s issues are handled from a gender perspective in the media. Particular attention is being devoted to school textbooks, which will discuss the roles of men and women objectively and in a manner that reflects social reality, with a view to creating a culture with a gender perspective, putting an end to discrimination and changing children’s concepts about the social, economic and cultural roles played by men and women. To this end, a curriculum development project is being developed. However, more must be done along these lines, as it is essential to:

- Change the prevailing mental and cultural climate concerning the roles of women and men as a prerequisite for altering attitudes and preconceptions;

- Analyse gender issues and gather data with a view to investigating the subject of discrimination with sensitivity and transparency; this will facilitate the task of selecting informational materials aimed at reformulating social and intellectual values along lines consistent with the new realities;

- Ensure that the media deal with women’s issues, discuss the extent and causes of the problem, stimulate public interaction for the development of appropriate solutions to help close the gender gap, present a realistic and impartial picture of women and the roles played by men and women, and initiate a positive dialogue in an effort to instil positive concepts and values that will generate sound intellectual and social development;

- Promote co-ordination among the various media with a view to unifying all efforts aimed at enhancing the status of women and highlighting the importance of their participation in family and social life;

- Ensure that the media present family and social guidance programming designed to disseminate family education concepts relating to mother and child health, family planning and reproductive health, along with new concepts relating to the changing functions and roles of women and men based on the principle of partnership and co-operation.

Efforts to end stereotyping in the definition of the roles of women and men

The Government, represented by its agencies that are concerned with women’s issues, is working alongside non-governmental organizations to draft policies, programs, plans and projects and to develop field studies designed to heighten awareness of gender mainstreaming issues. Its aim is to plan for and analyse those issues from a perspective that takes gender needs and differences into account in the execution of all its plans and projects. Activities of this kind are prominent among the Government’s concerns and are an important aspect of its future orientations, and they have also attracted the favourable attention of international donor organizations that support projects for the advancement of women in Yemen. Among the most significant efforts in this area have been the following:

- Preparation of a national report on women and men in Yemen (a statistical picture) by the Central Statistics Organization in collaboration with ESCWA. The report seeks to present a clear and objective picture of the roles and situations of women and men in the light of statistical indicators and quantitative data.

- Preparation of a yearly national report on the status of women by the Women’s National Committee. The report reflects the situation of women compared to that of men in all areas.

- Action to heighten awareness of the roles of both women and men in Yemeni society, identify gender gaps, notably with respect to posts in decision-making centres, highlight the need to adopt reforms in the area of policies, and gather, publish and analyse accurate information and data.

- Implementation of the Post-Beijing Phase II project, especially programmes on gender mainstreaming, a training programme on gender issue planning, participation in training programmes abroad on analysis of gender mainstreaming issues, and measures designed to address gender gaps.

Many programmes and activities are currently being implemented, and planning for the implementation of others in the future is going forward, with a view to addressing issues relating to the elimination of stereotyping. This is something that is rooted in inadequate social awareness of the actual roles and needs of women and men. Consequently, it is essential to enhance awareness, not only formally but at the popular level, of the importance of eliminating all traditional cultural practices based on stereotyped views of the roles of women and men.

Population policies

Yemen’s National Population Policy for 2001-2025 includes a Programme of Action which features the theme of justice, equity and empowerment for women. In this connection, the Programme of Action seeks to resolve the ambiguities associated with earlier strategic objectives and to address the issues of the gender gap in the fields of education, health and employment and the low level of participation by women in political and economic life. The Programme of Action seeks to enhance women’s roles in the family and in society.

As the Programme of Action notes, there are numerous statutes in Yemen that provide for justice and equity between the sexes and the empowerment of women, but there have too often been gaps and shortcomings in the application of these statutory provisions, with the result that women still find it difficult to obtain an education, find employment opportunities or accede to decision-making posts. Habit, tradition and social and cultural custom continue to cast their shadow, constituting obstacles to equality between the sexes in the area of rights and obligations.

The empowerment and the cultural, social, economic and political advancement of women are still contingent on the development of their capabilities, the enhancement of their family and social roles, and greater participation by them in decision-making.

Accordingly, the effective application of these policies will require understanding and awareness of the negative socio-cultural heritage that constitutes an obstacle to justice for women, and a sustained effort to break with that heritage. Women must be given fuller access to services and basic rights. This will lead gradually to a narrowing of the gender gap.

Enshrining as it does the Government’s commitment to achieving justice and equity between the sexes and the empowerment of women, and to maintaining the momentum for change that has built up in recent years, the Population Programme of Action for 2001-2005 sets forth the following objectives:

1. Attainment of a substantial degree of equality and justice by narrowing the gender gap in the fields of education, employment and other social services, and by overhauling laws and regulations that are not consistent with the principle of equality and justice. Customs and traditions that have a negative impact on the family and society should be discarded, and to that end the following measures are contemplated:

• Raising school enrolment rates for girls at the primary, secondary and university levels;

• Combating the phenomenon of girls dropping out of school, especially at the primary level, by dealing with the root causes of that phenomenon and involving families and society in general in all aspects of the effort;

• Increasing the capacity of girls’ schools;

• Encouraging girls to enrol in technical and vocational courses and to expand the availability of such courses insofar as possible;

• Extending literacy activities for girls, and instituting adult education classes for women in areas near their homes;

• Reducing tuition fees for girls, and eliminating them altogether for girls from poor families, especially in rural areas;

• Reviewing and amending laws and regulations that are inconsistent with equal access by women to employment commensurate with their abilities and the enjoyment of all their rights, and eliminating discriminatory practices;

• Ongoing action to achieve justice and equality of opportunity between men and women in the preparation and implementation of developmental programmes and activities;

• Ongoing use of the media to foster awareness and spread information in an effort to change attitudes and orientations that have a harmful, negative impact on the principle of justice and equity.

2. Fuller participation by women in social, economic, environmental and cultural activities with a view to changing situations and attitudes that have a negative and harmful impact on the principle of justice and equity. To that end, the following measures are contemplated:

• Ensuring that women have access to basic services in the fields of education, health, employment and environmental services;

• Working to narrow the gender gap by continuing to take action to enable women to benefit from these services and to participate in administering them;

• Enhancing the economic status of women by promoting women’s employment, integrating low-income women into productive programs and projects, establishing new training and skills development centres and expanding and developing existing ones;

• Making services, facilities and benefits available with a view to encouraging women to establish their own businesses, and supporting women entrepreneurs by making it easier for them to obtain credit and loans from financial institutions on favourable terms;

• Encouraging women to establish production and marketing co-operatives as a means of improving their living conditions and increasing their self-reliance.

3. Development of women’s capabilities and aptitudes, enhancing their social, economic and political status and strengthening their ability to participate in decision-making at all levels. To that end, the following measures are contemplated:

• Upgrading women’s qualifications, eliminating barriers to their participation in political life, and ensuring that they are better represented in senior posts in legislative and executive bodies, political parties and the institutions of civil society;

• Devoting efforts and resources to the task of reducing disparities and narrowing the gender gap in order to attain greater participation by women in development;

• Encouraging participation by women in political parties and organizations and trade unions.

The function of the head of a family in law and custom

Yemen’s dominant system of values and customs, which is more powerful than the law, regards the man as playing the influential, active role in the family and acting as its head, in accordance with standards, customs and traditions that have retained their hold in both rural and urban areas. However, the prevalence of this system does not mean that Yemeni women cannot be heads of families. Indeed, they sometimes must bear that burden in full, when the man of the household has emigrated or died. For the country as a whole, 12.8 per cent of all families are headed by women. For urban areas, the percentage is slightly lower at 11.6 per cent. These families consist of 10 or more members on average. Families headed by men account for 78.3 per cent of the total in urban areas, and for 89.7 per cent of the total in rural areas. This phenomenon is probably due to internal migration or emigration in search of work or education.



Table showing households by sex of head of family, urban and rural areas

Fifteen per cent of all Yemeni women live alone, with no families, compared to 2.5 per cent of Yemeni men. Many of these women are widows or divorcees, and their situation is attributable to the fact that under Yemeni custom and tradition, they do not control decisions affecting their marriages, in contrast to men. The number of women living alone is 11.2 per cent in urban areas. More than 18 per cent of all families headed by a women in urban areas comprise 10 or more members.

Occupations from which women are excluded

Under the law, there are no occupations from which women are excluded. However, the prevalent custom of the country regards some occupations as not suitable for women. These include carpentry, metalworking and stonemasonry, all trades that require considerable bodily strength. Most women who work keep livestock or engage in agriculture; few practice other occupations. As will be seen from the table below, women account for a much smaller proportion of workers in most economic sectors than men. As a result, women play no great role in decision-making, whereas men have much greater latitude in that respect, thanks to their much greater representation in positions of authority.

Participation by women and men in various economic sectors

Expectations of sons and daughters concerning their respective roles in the family and in society

The translation of expectations into reality must depend on a number of considerations and circumstances that can prepare young people of both sexes to revise traditional negative views about the roles of men and women within the family. To that end, the Government’s general policy makes provision for the following measures:

- Incorporation of the changing roles of men and women in general family life as a concept in population education projects;

- Attention to gender mainstreaming issues in family and rural development strategies, policies, programmes and projects, and incorporation of a gender perspective in the Ministry of Agriculture’s population education project;

- Action to encourage Government agencies concerned with men’s and women’s issues to establish special units for gender mainstreaming issues. The function of these units would be to heighten awareness of the roles and responsibilities of women and men in family life and public life, with a view to promoting participation by women in decision-making and enlisting active contributions from both sexes in the formulation of general strategies and policies, project planning, and data gathering and analysis;

- Action to encourage the institutions of civil society, especially those that are concerned with the welfare of mothers and children, family associations and charitable organizations, to promote concepts of sound child-raising within the family and in society, from a perspective that takes into account the needs of gender mainstreaming at all levels;

Responsibility for the care of children

In Yemen, responsibility for the care of children belongs to the family and to social child-care institutions, whose services are regarded as an extension of the care, guidance and upbringing provided by the family. However, the State provides for children who are deprived of the care of a family through various institutions, including the following:

- homes for young offenders;
- foster homes;
- kindergartens;
- educational and cultural institutions;
- educational and cultural activities and programmes;
- services for the care of handicapped and socially marginalized children;
- initiatives for enlightened action in the area of care for street children.

We may note at this point that the Government of Yemen has drafted a Law on the Rights of Children which is consistent with the provisions of the United Nations Convention and the Arab Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

Once this Law has been duly adopted and promulgated, it will significantly improve the situation of children in Yemen.

Child Assistance and Care Programme

In Yemen, there are many benefits available to families, especially married women, widows with children, divorced women with children, abandoned wives, the wives of men in prison and the wives of men who are mentally ill. A woman in any of these categories is entitled to a monthly stipend in the amount of up to 2 000 rials under the Social Welfare Law, which has been overhauled and amended to cover a number of formerly excluded groups, such as dependent children, unmarried persons or unemployed persons. The Law is particularly concerned with widows with minor children, divorced women with children, and women who are poor or destitute.

Numbers of married women, widows, divorced women and other women with dependent children who receive social welfare benefits

In all, 153 477 women heads of families are receiving social welfare benefits under the Social Welfare Law (Law No. 21 of 1996) and amendments thereto. Under that Law, a woman who has no one to provide for her and who must bear the whole burden of responsibility for bringing up her children is entitled to a stipend, paid out of a special fund known as the Social Welfare Fund.

Numbers of women in other categories who receive social welfare benefits

These figures, which may fluctuate, say nothing about the amount of the benefits provided by the Fund; they show only the numbers of women whose applications for benefit have been approved. In point of fact, the Fund’s level of coverage and service quality are not satisfactory; there should be many more people drawing benefits, especially women who have young children to provide for. An adequate social welfare system would constitute an important contribution to these women’s family and social stability and security, and a means of helping them to lead a life of dignity by providing for their basic needs.

A non-discriminatory focus on the roles played by both sexes from their early years, action to correct the existing stereotyped view of a girl’s role and the inculcation of social concepts and values from a gender perspective, all these will add up to a substantial contribution to the task of reformulating social values along new lines that are consistent with our positive values and customs based on the Islamic Shari’ah. As will be seen, then, we are addressing the various issues that are of concern to women’s institutions and working to advance the various projects aimed at implementing the findings of gender-oriented studies and research, together with consciousness-raising and educational programmes designed to further the attainment of that objective.

Services for young offenders and orphans

In Yemen, young offenders are entitled to receive social, educational and psychological services through a system of social guidance homes providing them with basic care, where they can engage in various activities designed to reform and reorient them, where they are provided with health care and an adequate diet, and where they have access to skills development courses, vocational training, and cultural and recreational activities.

However, this system of social guidance homes for young offenders is not yet fully operational, and consequently special sections in penal institutions are used to accommodate them. These are completely separate from the buildings where the adult inmates are kept. Unfortunately, the social and educational facilities required for adequate interaction with young offenders are not available in penal institutions, and consequently the whole issue of the accommodation of young offenders in such institutions is in need of review and reconsideration. In due course they must be transferred to social guidance homes where they can be rehabilitated, in accordance with the provisions of the Young Offenders Law.

At the present time, Yemen has four social guidance homes for young offenders, located in Sana’a, Ta’iz, Hodeida and Ibb. The services provided by these homes are for boys only; there are no comparable homes for female young offenders. This situation has prompted the Ministry of Social Welfare to include in its current two-year plan funding for the construction of two social guidance homes for girls, thereby correcting a deficiency in the service as it stands at present and making it available to both sexes without discrimination.

Young offenders are classified and dealt with on the basis of their age and type of offence. The penalties to which they are liable are defined in the Young Offenders Law, which includes sections on deviation and exposure to deviation. The Law specifies that they are to be given skills training that will enable them to become rehabilitated and re-enter society in accordance with the principle of social adaptation. They are also to be offered opportunities for appropriate employment once they have served their sentences in correctional-educational institutions.

Concurrently, non-governmental institutions have begun to devote some attention to the issue of services for young people and orphans. A number of institutions have been built expressly to provide services for persons in that category, supplementing the Government’s institutions.

Centre for persons with special needs in Sana’a

This institution provides education and vocational training for disabled children, based on curricula approved by the Ministry of Education. The Centre teaches sign language and lip-reading, and it runs a variety of cultural and social programmes and activities, including sports competitions, scientific and recreational outings, reading in the school library and video films for children. The Centre concentrates on such trades skills as carpentry, upholstery, knitting, men’s and women’s tailoring, and computer science. The Centre has 377 students, men and women taken together.

Centre for persons with special needs in Aden

This Centre offers skills development services for mobility-impaired persons in many fields, including secretarial work, carpentry, the making of artificial limbs, various kinds of sewing, shoemaking and leatherwork. Exhibitions of students’ products are organized from time to time. In addition, the Centre runs literacy courses for disabled people, notably those who are deaf and dumb. It serves a total of 58 students, including both males and females.

Al-Nur Centre for the Blind in Sana’a

This educational centre accommodates 120 students in all, including both males and females.

Centre for the blind in Aden

This Centre accommodates 60 persons. It comprises two sections: an academic education section and a vocational training section. The latter provides training in manual crafts such as basketry.

Hadramaut Centre for the Blind

This Centre is also divided into an academic section and a vocational section. It accommodates a total of 75 students.

Ta’iz Centre for the Disabled (deaf and dumb)

At this centre, students are taught to communicate by sign language. The Centre has some 800 students, both boys and girls.

The Zabid Centre for the Deaf and Dumb

This Centre provides training in communication by means of sign language both for children and for adult students. It has approximately 45 students in all, both male and female.

Care and rehabilitation projects for disabled persons

Yemen has a community-based rehabilitation program which provides training services at both the local and national levels. This is one of several new strategies for working with disabled persons. Community-based rehabilitation, in the broad sense, includes active, comprehensive involvement by all bodies concerned with the disabled: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Labour.

Community-based rehabilitation projects in the Governorates of Aden, Lahej, Ta’iz, Abyan and Ibb

- Aden Governorate: rehabilitation and training for 360 disabled children.
- Lahej Governorate: rehabilitation and training for 287 disabled children up to 18 years of age.
- Ta’iz Governorate: rehabilitation and training for 266 disabled children. These programmes are shortly to be extended to other regions, including Hajda, Ramada and Hajez, and 21 workers have been trained for that purpose.
- Abyan Governorate: rehabilitation and training for 290 disabled children.
- Ibb Governorate: rehabilitation and training for 193 disabled children.

Early home intervention project

This is a project that was initiated in 1993, with assistance from the Arab Council for Children and support from the Government of Yemen. However, it has been suspended because of a lack of qualified training personnel and a shortage of funds. While it was operational, it provided services to 56 disabled children, both boys and girls.

Project to provide support for the Sana’a and Aden Centres

The initial phase of this project is aimed at extending community-based rehabilitation to periurban areas such as Thula. The numbers of disabled children in that area are currently being determined as a preliminary measure designed to enable the local community to work alongside the central Government in providing rehabilitation services. Appropriate facilities are currently being equipped, and the necessary supplies are being made available.

Article 6

Trafficking in women and exploitation of the prostitution of women

In considering the social situation with respect to prostitution in an Islamic country like Yemen, there are two important aspects that must be taken into account, namely the religious aspect and the social aspect.

It is these two aspects that underlie and define the issue of prostitution in the social context. From a religious standpoint, the Islamic Shari’ah, which regulates social conduct, unequivocally prohibits all forms of prostitution and anything designed to entice individuals to prostitution or make it appear attractive. This is an outgrowth of the Islamic law’s consistent emphasis on virtuous behaviour and its concern to strengthen the family, the basis of which is virtuous behaviour. The Shari’ah regulates sexual relations between men and women within the institution of marriage, the purpose of which is to provide a legal context for the satisfaction of sexual desire and ensure the continuation of life and the survival of the human species.

The social aspect, for its part, is entirely consistent with the religious aspect. Thus, for example, we find that social custom, practice and tradition condemn prostitution and support virtuous behaviour in the form of a family life based on mutual respect between man and woman and organized in accordance with the precepts of the Shari’ah. This has implications for such matters as:
(a) The role of the family in the rearing and education of children;
(b) The role of the school; and
(c) The role of society in general.

In brief, all these aspects concur in regarding virtue as desirable and vice as abhorrent, and tend to inculcate a system of values such that families and society in general are organized along Islamic lines. Individuals, whether men or women, are encouraged to acquire the values, customs and traditions of an Islamic society and to internalize the principles of the Islamic Shari’ah. Consequently, a Yemeni rejects anything that stains his or her honour, whether prostitution or any other form of vice, because from childhood he or she has been brought up to aspire to a social life characterized by equality and respect in both religious and social terms. Exceptions may occur, but in general, virtue is regarded as desirable and vice as abhorrent. This is not to say that vice, in the form of prostitution, rape and the like, does not exist in Yemeni society, but trafficking in women and exploitation of the prostitution of women are deemed unacceptable, and are punishable under the country’s criminal laws, which are based on the Islamic Shari’ah, and are also condemned by the customs and usages of society.

In Yemen, there are no statutes of any kind that regulate or permit trafficking in women or exploitation of the prostitution of women. This is attributable to the country’s religious and social context, which condemns and rejects all such evils, degrading as they are to women’s dignity as human beings. Trafficking in women and exploitation of the prostitution of women violate the human rights of the women concerned. Yemeni society approves an orderly family life through marriage. Prostitution, including the prostitution of minors, is unlawful under all circumstances, as will be apparent from the foregoing discussion. Under Part XI, Chapter 4 of the Criminal Code (Law No. 12 of 1994), which deals with adultery, rape and the corruption of morals, prostitution is a criminal offence. Article 277 of the Code defines prostitution in the following terms:

“Prostitution is the committing of an act that is dishonourable and contravenes the Shari’ah for the purpose of corrupting the morals of another person or for gain.”

Article 278 of the Code states, “Every person who commits an act of prostitution shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of not more than three years or a fine.”

Under Article 281 of the Code, brothel-keeping is a criminal offence. That Article states, “Every person who keeps a common bawdy house or place of prostitution shall be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding ten years, and every such common bawdy house or place of prostitution shall be closed for a period of not more than two years, and all the furnishings, fittings and other items found therein while the premises were in use as a common bawdy house or place of prostitution shall be confiscated.”

Article 279 goes even further, making soliciting for purposes of prostitution a criminal offence as well. That article states, “Every person who solicits another person for purposes of prostitution shall be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years. Where an act of prostitution is committed as a result of such soliciting, the penalty shall be a term of imprisonment not exceeding seven years. Where the person so solicited is a minor under 15 years of age, or where the person who engages in such soliciting makes his or her living from the avails of prostitution, the penalty shall be a term of imprisonment not exceeding 15 years. Where the person who engages in such soliciting also engages in acts of prostitution, the penalty shall be a term of imprisonment not exceeding 15 years.”

As will be apparent from the foregoing discussion, the promotion of sexual services is non-existent in Yemen, since it is incompatible with the country’s religion, society and laws, all of which condemn trafficking in women and exploitation of the prostitution of women. It follows that the promotion of sexual services by any means, direct or indirect, is prohibited. Furthermore, it is unlawful in Yemen to sell women for purposes of sexual exploitation, in accordance with the Islamic Shari’ah, which prohibits human slavery. Under Yemeni law, slavery for any purpose is a crime; Article 248 of the Criminal Code (Law No. 12 of 1994) states, “Every person who buys, sells, gives away or otherwise treats a human being as assignable property, and every person who brings a human being into the country or removes a human being therefrom for purposes of treating him or her as assignable property, shall be liable to punishment by a term of imprisonment not exceeding ten years.” The position of Yemeni society in this matter, as expressed in its laws, its social values and in the fundamental features and principles of the Shari’ah, is not only a product of the conventions and other international instruments to which Yemen is a signatory, it is also a product of the Islamic religion and the social customs that have developed in the course of the country’s history.

Article 7

Political and public life

Yemen’s second five-year plan calls for participation by women in politics as an important factor in the country’s political development and evolution. Accordingly, it is essential, during the next few years, to strive to create a climate conducive to a more prominent role for women in public life and society and more women in leadership positions, by encouraging and enabling women to exercise all the legal, social and political rights to which they are entitled under the Constitution, most notably the right to stand for election and the right to vote.

Participation by women in the political and legal spheres has been facilitated by the General Elections Law, which granted them the right to participate in referendums, to stand for election, to vote and to belong to political parties. Since the adoption of that Law, women have voted alongside men in the three constitutional referendums that have been held, in 1991, 1994 and 2001, and they have also shared in the tasks of organizing and overseeing elections. In 1993, a High Council on Elections, which included one woman, was established by executive order. Subsequently, women’s monitoring committees have been established for the purpose of monitoring elections, with the same mandate as the men’s committees established for that purpose. Women served on the central committees and local committees in the various electoral districts in the parliamentary elections that were held in 1993 and 1997, and women also exercised their right to vote and to stand as candidates at those elections. This represented a major step forward in terms of percentage participation by women, greater awareness, and the enrolment of women on voters’ lists, as will be seen from the tables below.

Numbers of registered voters compared to total population, 1993 and 1997 elections

Membership of electoral monitoring committees, by sex

As the above table shows, the percentage of women enrolled on voters’ lists at the 1993 elections was approximately 18 per cent of the total number of voters enrolled. This is a low figure by comparison with the number of male voters enrolled on the lists. However, it is important to bear in mind that this was the first time that women had taken part in the electoral process. At the 1997 elections, the percentage of women enrolled on voters’ lists was 27 per cent, a noteworthy increase in participation by women.

Local elections

Yemen has recently embarked on a process of administrative decentralization, establishing local authorities, in the form of district and Governorate assemblies, on an experimental basis. Elections for these local assemblies were held for the first time in February 2001, and women participated in them, no less than in other elections, not merely as voters, but as candidates for election to seats in district and Governorate assemblies.

In all, there were 125 women candidates, of whom 30 were elected to seats in district assemblies and five to seats in Governorate assemblies. To be sure, the numbers of women members of both levels of local assembly are small in the light of the fact that they constitute half the population, but this was an important step forward for women none the less: they asserted their presence as elected representatives and as participants in local authorities. In addition, two women have recently been appointed to the country’s Consultative Assembly.

The table below presents a summary of the numbers of women candidates at the 1993 and 1997 parliamentary elections.

Numbers and respective percentages of men and women candidates, 1993 and 1997 elections

Source: High Council on Elections

As will be seen from this table, the percentage of women candidates was higher at the 1993 elections than at the 1997 elections; the figure declined by approximately 61 per cent in the course of the four-year interval between the two elections. The percentage of women party candidates declined by some 47 per cent over that period, while the corresponding figures for independent women candidates show a decline of 71 per cent. This downward trend in the numbers of women candidates seems to have been due mainly to the following factors:

- The fact that several parties which tended to encourage women to stand as candidates boycotted the 1997 elections;
- The fact that other parties were reluctant to include women in their lists of candidates on a variety of social, cultural or ideological grounds;
- The fact that electoral campaigns involve conditions and other factors which are difficult for women.

In all, the 1993 and 1997 elections resulted in only two women members of the Chamber of Deputies, i.e. under 1 per cent (approximately 0.07 per cent, in fact) of the total of 301 members.

Monitoring of local elections

Women played a noteworthy role in the task of monitoring the elections for honesty, with the result that the local data announced by the People’s High Committee for Election Monitoring were the most satisfactory ever for the country as a whole. The Committee had two women on its executive, including one who was the Assistant Secretary.

Women also held senior positions on the Electoral Monitoring Committee. In addition, the team responsible for assisting the international monitors included two women members. Their work was crucial to the fact that the team was able to perform its task successfully both locally and internationally. Thousands of women throughout Yemen participated in the monitoring of the 1993 and 1997 elections for honesty.

Membership of political parties

Despite the fact that no more than 36.8 per cent of all eligible women were enrolled on voters’ lists, enough women participated in the elections to send a clear message to all political parties and organizations: democracy had turned women into a real political force that could not be ignored, and any political party or organization that did ignore women would do so at its peril.

Under the Law on Political Parties and Organizations, a new political party may be legally established only if a membership list containing the signatures of at least 2500 persons is submitted to the Committee on Political Parties and Organizations. The list submitted by the People’s General Congress included the names of 37 women, that of the Yemeni Reform Assembly (“Islah”) 20, that of the Baath Arab Socialist Party 78, that of the Democratic Nasserist Party 30, and the People’s Nasserist Union Organization 48.

Article 41 of the 1994 Constitution, as subsequently amended (which, as we have seen, is based on the Islamic Shari’ah), states that all citizens are equal in respect of rights and duties. Article 42 states that every citizen has the right to participate in economic, social and cultural life, and that the State guarantees freedom of thought and expression, both verbal and in writing. In the context of the country’s orientation toward democracy, and in accordance with the principle of political pluralism and the free functioning of many parties, the women of Yemen have unhesitatingly plunged into politics and now openly announce that they belong to this party or that.

The table below shows how many women have become members of political parties and organizations in Yemen.

Representation of women in leadership structures of political parties

Source: Abdulhakim al-Sharjabi, Strategic Report on Yemen, 2000

As will be seen from this table, women are not extensively represented, either in absolute numbers or in percentage terms, in the leadership structures of Yemen’s political parties. To date, no political party in Yemen has ever had a woman leader, secretary or deputy secretary.

Women are not very extensively represented at lower levels in political parties either. For example, there are only 35 women members of the standing committee of the People’s General Congress, out of a total membership of 700; the Advisory Council of the Al-Islah Party includes only seven women members (elected in October 1998) out of a total membership of 160; the Socialist Party of Yemen has 13 women members, out of a total membership of 270, and the Nasserist Union Organization boasts four women members, out of a total membership of 74. The lower echelons of the other parties include no women at all, although some women are ordinary party members.

Representation of women in Government

Not one of the Governments formed since the September and October revolutions had included a woman in a ministerial position. The current Government, however, which took office in 2001, does include a woman Minister of State for Human Rights. Furthermore, the Public Social Insurance Institution is headed by a woman.

Yemen has evolved, albeit to a limited extent, in the direction of appointing women to leadership posts in the country’s public administration; growing numbers of women occupy supervisory and specialized positions. In general, women are totally absent from senior positions, notably ministerial positions, with the exception of the one woman Minister who was appointed in 2001. In addition, one woman has been appointed to a post as an alternate, i.e. a post of ministerial rank, but without exercising any of the functions of a minister). There are no women Governors or Vice-Governors.

However, there are women who hold posts of lower rank. For example, as we have seen, the Public Social Insurance Institution is headed by a woman, there are two women deputy ministers and four women assistant deputy ministers, and a woman heads the Literacy Agency. As many as 97 women are Directors-General in Government agencies of one kind or another, compared to over 2000 men. There are two women advisers in the Office of the President of the Republic and three women advisers to the Prime Minister’s Office. In 2001, two women were appointed to the Consultative Assembly.

Representation of women in Government posts

Source: Abdulhakim al-Sharjabi, Strategic Report on Yemen, 2000

There are a total of 106 women in the Yemeni diplomatic corps, distributed as follows:
- one woman ambassador
- two women of ambassadorial rank (but without postings as ambassadors)
- two women chargés d’affaires
- seven women counsellors
- three women first secretaries
- four women second secretaries
- two women third secretaries
- 83 women administrative attachés
- two women press liaison officers

Women have been able to accede to posts within the Office of the President of the Republic: at present, there are 46 such women, including some who are advisers with ministerial rank. There are seven women Deputy Ministers and four Assistant Deputy Ministers serving in various departments and committees. Women head a number of specialized units, including Economic Co-operation, and the National Committee for Peace has a woman secretary. Other women hold positions as scientific investigators and specialists in various fields. These women serve as models for all Yemenis, men and women alike. There are 14 women Directors-General, while the others work in a variety of administrative units. In all, approximately 20 per cent of all these posts are filled by women. It is clear from the foregoing that the appointment of women to political posts at the highest level constitutes a positive phenomenon for all qualified women with the necessary ambition.

Participation in trade union activity

Participation by women in this area is still limited by comparison with men, despite the fact that trade union activity is opening up broad new horizons for women in various occupational fields and in public life. Statistical data and indicators confirm the low level of participation by women: only 15 per cent of trade union members are women, and women account for no more than 15 per cent of leadership positions on union committees. In the country’s Governorates, women account for a mere 10 per cent of the membership of local union organizations, and the Central Council of Trade Unions includes only 11 women members, or 10 per cent of the total membership of 115. The Executive Board of the Federation of Trade Unions has no women members; however, a five-member committee has been formed to deal with issues of relevance for working women.

In general, then, it is clear that women participate only to a very slight extent in this important activity, compared to their male colleagues. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, notably the following:

- Women have only recently begun to be active in the trade union movement;

- Some women have not been convinced that it is advantageous for them to take part in trade union work, and have come to realize only recently that this is a short-sighted view and that trade union activity is important;

- Leadership positions in the trade union movement are dominated by men, with the result that it has not been possible for women to participate effectively, and this in itself has kept their participation rate down.

It is fair to say that the Yemen Federation of Trade Unions and other labour organizations have recently realized that it is essential for women to participate in union activities, and accordingly have adopted a policy of encouraging them to join. Even so, women have not yet risen to the leadership positions which they could use to good effect to advance the rights of women workers and participation by women in public life.

Governmental and non-governmental institutions concerned with the status and protection of women

Governmental and non-governmental institutions concerned with the status of women undeniably acquired enhanced importance during the 1990s. To be sure, the Government had previously endeavoured to establish mechanisms and programmes aimed at advancing the status of women, but those mechanisms and programmes had been inadequate. In the paragraphs below, some of the mechanisms and programs established since unification of the State will be outlined. They fall into two categories: Governmental and non-governmental.

Governmental mechanisms and programmes:

General Directorate for the Development of Rural Women

Established in 1988 as a directorate under the Crop Production General Directorate. Subsequently, it became a directorate directly under the responsibility of the Deputy Minister for Agricultural Affairs in 1996, and then was given its present title in March 2000.

General Directorate for Mother and Child Welfare

Established in 1990, under the Social Development Sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour.

General Directorate for Economically Productive Families

Established in 1990, under the Social Development Sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour.

General Directorate for Women (Ministry of Information)

Established by an executive order (No. 46 of 1999) issued by the Minister of Information pursuant to the Prime Minister’s directive No. 60 of 1999.

General Directorate for Women (Local Administration)

Established in 2001 by an executive order issued by the Minister of Local Administration.

General Directorate for Women (Ministry of Culture and Tourism)

Established in 1999 by an executive order issued by the Minister for Culture and Tourism.

Centre for Women’s Studies

Established in January 1994 as a social research and women’s studies unit within the Social Science Division of the University of Sana’a’s Department of Arts and Letters. The Centre was originally funded by the Government of the Netherlands. It has since become a women’s studies and research centre functioning under the supervision of the President of the University of Sana’a and the University’s Board of Governors.

High Council on the Status of Women

The High Council was established by an executive order (No. 68 of 2000) issued by the Prime Minister. The Council’s President is the Prime Minister, its Vice-President is the Minister of Planning and Development, and its Rapporteur is the Vice-President of the Women’s National Committee. The other members are the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, the President of the Women’s National Committee, two senior women officers of the country’s public administration, and the President of the Association of Chambers of Commerce.

Women’s National Committee

The Women’s National Committee was established by an executive order (No. 98 of 1996) issued by the Prime Minister. Its membership includes representatives from Governmental and non-governmental bodies, academic institutions and political parties. However, the institutional nature of the Committee’s work has made it necessary to revise the responsibilities entrusted to it.

The relevant executive orders relating to the revised mandate and overhaul of the Committee have been issued, and the restructuring process is proceeding in line with the current and foreseeable changes that the Committee must address.

Ministry of State for Human Rights

Established in 2001 within the framework of the present Government, this Ministry is headed by a woman.

Yemen Council for Mother and Child Protection

This body, which was established by executive order No. 32 of 1999, is headed by the Prime Minister and comprises a number of prominent persons who are involved with the Council’s terms of reference, policy and programmes in the area of protection for mothers and children and the rights of children at all levels. The Council’s yearly budget is currently 1.5 million rials, and this figure is expected to be increased to 5 million rials to cover the cost of future planning and programme development.

Gender-specific Statistics Department within the Central Statistics Organization

This Department was established in 1997. At present, it collaborates actively with the various directorates and agencies that are concerned with women’s affairs, gathering statistics on the women and men of Yemen for the purpose of creating gender-specific data bases and statistical indicators.

General Directorate for the Development of Working Women

Established in 1997, this General Directorate is concerned with issues of relevance for working women. As such, it comes under the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. However, it has not received a budget allocation as yet.

National High Council on Human Rights

Established in 1998, the Council is concerned with human rights. To date it has never had any women members, owing to the fact that it is made up of Government ministers and senior officials, and there are no women ministers or senior officials.

Department of Women’s Affairs within the Secretariat of the National Population Council

This Department was established in 1998 as a component of the Directorate General for Planning within the Secretariat of the National Population Council. Its mandate is limited to gathering statistical data on women.

Gender Mainstreaming Unit for Project Planning at the Social Development Fund

This body was created only recently, in 1998, as a component of the Social Development Fund. Its mandate is to support small income-generating projects.

Non-governmental mechanisms and programmes:

Yemeni Women’s Federation

The Federation, which was founded in 1990, is financially and administratively independent. It has an annual budget of 2 million rials, distributed evenly among its regional branches, which co-ordinate their activities with each other and with the Government. For the sake of greater effectiveness, however, the Federation should reorganize its activities, policies and programmes.

Social Association for Family Development

The Association, which was founded in 1990, is a charitable organization. Its annual budget is 240 000 rials, but the international support it receives, in the form of funding for its activities, amounts to 2 million rials. The task of co-ordinating the Association’s work with that of other relevant bodies and organizations is the responsibility of its nine-member Board of Directors. The Association’s membership consists of approximately 50 girls and women in the field of social work, all of whom are volunteers.

Disabled Women’s Committee

The Committee, which was founded in 1993, is an offshoot of the General Association for the Protection of Physically Disabled Persons; the Association supervises and administers the Committee’s work and finances it out of its own annual budget of 480 000 rials. The British organization Oxfam and the Swedish organization Rada Barnen also contribute to the funding of the some the Committee’s activities.

Department of Mother and Child Welfare at the Future Studies Centre

This department was founded late in 1996. Its financial and administrative capacities are not commensurate with its assigned role and objectives. Its annual budget is only 100 000 rials, quite inadequate for the nature and scope of the planning and activities for which it is responsible.

Social Association for Economically Productive Families

The Association, which was founded in July 1997, has 220 members. It operates in only two of the country’s Governorates, namely Sana’a and Hajja.

Association for Mother and Child Development

The Association, which was founded in 1997, is a volunteer organization that depends on its membership dues and donations from businessmen to fund its programmes and activities. It implements a variety of projects in its area of concern.

National Association for Mother and Child Health

This Association, which was founded in 1997, is concerned with the health of mothers and their children. It has an annual budget of 500 000 rials, which is provided by international organizations and the private sector.

Committee to Combat Violence Against Women

This organization was founded in December 1997. Its objectives are as follows:

• To study and document the issues associated with violence against women, both in general terms and in terms of specific cases;

• To work in co-operation and co-ordination with relevant bodies and human rights associations to combat all forms of violence.

Al-Tahaddi (“Challenge”) Association for the Welfare of Disabled Women

Al-Tahaddi is a charitable association founded in 1998 to promote the welfare of disabled women.

Agency for the Development of Rural Women’s Co-operatives

The Agency was founded in January 1999 as an offshoot of the Federation of Agricultural Co-operatives. Its objectives are as follows:

• To encourage the formation of rural women’s co-operatives

• To provide training for the members of rural women’s co-operatives as a means of making employment opportunities available to them, and to conduct economic feasibility studies relating to such co-operatives.

On 3 April 1999, the Prime Minister circulated a letter (ref. PM 60/2) to all Government ministries asking them to organize Status of Women directorates, in response to an initiative on the part of the Women’s National Committee aimed at enhancing access by women to decision-making posts.

Since 1995, a number of women’s charitable organizations have been founded, all of which seek to promote various aspects of women’s health, social welfare, education and economic situation, and also to upgrade their capabilities and enable them to achieve a better standard of living. These organizations include the following:

Al-Wed Women’s Charitable Association
Al-Safa Women’s Charitable Association
Ithar Women’s Charitable Association
Al-Khulood Women’s Charitable Association
Al-Bushra Women’s Charitable Association
Al-Huda Women’s Charitable Association
Al-Murooah Women’s Charitable Association
Al-Nidhal Women’s Charitable Association
Women’s Sustainable Development Association
Al-Wafa Women’s Charitable Association
Arab Sisters Forum
Bir-al-Azab Women’s Charitable Association
Yemeni Association for Rational Medical Care
Martyr Fadhl al-Halaly Association for Blind Women
Al-Tahaddi Association for the Welfare of Disabled Women
Social Association for Women and Children
Al-Khaled Charitable Association
Mirab Social Charitable Association
Yemeni Consumer Protection Association
Friends of the Disabled Association
Association for Mother and Child Development
Bir al-Shayef Charitable Association

The activities of these associations concentrate on the implementation of policies, programs, plans and projects aimed at training, education and awareness generation for women. They are not greatly different from earlier associations of the same kind as far as their areas of interest, objectives, strategies and general orientations are concerned.

The task of upgrading the situation of these institutions, which are concerned with women’s issues and the promotion of their welfare, calls for policies and measures structured along the following lines:

- Initiation and facilitation of co-operation between governmental and non-governmental women’s institutions in order to minimize overlapping and duplication and make optimal use of the country’s limited resources, in a framework of partnership and co-operation in policy and programme development at all levels of activity implementation and project execution;

- Action to enable these institutions, both formal and informal, to extend their programmes and services at the local level, thereby ensuring that projects are more broadly based and reach rural and remote areas, where services are sorely lacking;

- Action to associate the Chamber of Deputies, local assemblies, the judiciary and the private sector, all of which have come to play an effective and influential role in advancing the status of women in Yemen, with the tasks of surveying and recording progress achieved at the national level and monitoring the implementation of the obligations assumed by the Government pursuant to the Beijing Plan of Action and the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in respect of balanced representation for women and men in all fields.

The preparation of this report is itself an important example of the kind of action that governmental and non-governmental institutions can undertake in an organized context, taking into consideration their integrated efforts representing an extension of plans and programmes aimed at structured vision and unified action to minimize overlapping and duplication in activities and programmes and the co-ordination of efforts, both now and in the future, in pursuit of the following objectives:

- Integration of women’s issues into all programmes and policies through co-ordination and sectoral co-operation by formal institutions in the gathering of information and statistical data and indicators on both sexes, and through the integration of those issues into the policies of non-formal institutions as well, inasmuch as they are assuming growing importance for the activities of governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector, with the result that in the near future, development policy designers and decision-makers will have to devote greater attention and support to the task of achieving more comprehensive co-ordination to ensure that the interests of both sexes are served in the context of national sustainable development programmes;

- Establishment of national mechanisms, both formal and informal, to ensure that the media provide more adequate coverage of campaigns aimed at enhancing awareness of the gender-specific aspects of social problems, with a view to bringing about a re-examination of stereotypes relating to women and to the roles and responsibilities of both sexes, taking into account the changing needs of families and society and the demands of life and economic, social and human development. These various aspects have received some attention, but a greater degree of awareness of them is needed in order to ensure that the actual needs of both sexes are integrated into development policies, planning and programmes.

Article 8

Official representation and participation in various organizations

As we have seen, Yemeni women have plunged into political life and become active in a number of professional fields, notably education, in which growing numbers of women have become qualified in various areas of specialization. Inevitably, important diplomatic posts have followed. Until quite recently, owing to the prevalence of traditional concepts and social values in Yemen, it would have been unimaginable for women to be senior members of the country’s diplomatic corps, but by 1999 there were three women ambassadors, four women with the rank of minister plenipotentiary, seven women counsellors, three women first secretaries and one woman diplomatic attaché. By 2001, in addition to the above, there were four women second secretaries, two women third secretaries, one woman diplomatic representative and 83 administrative attachés. Diplomatic missions, of course, are characterized by frequent changes in personnel.

Article 9

Nationality

Yemen’s legislation on nationality does not discriminate between men and women. Individuals of both sexes enjoy the same right to hold Yemeni nationality under articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Nationality Law (Law No. 6 of 1990).

The Nationality Law, which was adopted on 6 August 1990, immediately after the unification of the country, sets forth a number of criteria governing the definition and acquisition of Yemeni nationality. These criteria are based on the specific characteristics of Yemeni society, and are thus comparable to those of other societies that are concerned to preserve their distinctive characteristics. They may be summarized as follows:

(a) In accordance with the principle of jus sanguinis (law of the blood in an absolute sense), Yemeni nationality is acquired by the fact of having been born to a father who is a citizen of Yemen. Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Nationality Law states, “Every person whose father possesses Yemeni nationality is a citizen of Yemen.”

(b) Yemeni nationality may also be acquired by the principle of jus sanguinis combined with the principle of jus soli (law of the soil), i.e. the law of the blood in a restricted sense.

In certain cases, Yemeni nationality may also be acquired by the principle of jus sanguinis through the maternal line. Paragraphs 2 of Article 3 of the Nationality Law read as follows: “Every person born in Yemen to a mother possessing Yemeni nationality and a father whose nationality is unknown or who has no nationality is a citizen of Yemen.” Paragraph 3 of that article reads, “Every person born in Yemen to a mother possessing Yemeni nationality and whose paternity cannot be legally determined is a citizen of Yemen.”

In recent years, growing numbers of Yemeni women have married citizens of other Arab countries, and this situation has given rise to the problem of children who are born to a Yemeni mother married to a foreign national and who are not entitled to their mother’s nationality. This problem becomes more serious in the case of a woman who is divorced or abandoned and retains custody of her children, as the children find themselves foreign nationals in their mother’s country, since, as we have seen, Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Nationality Law confers Yemeni nationality on a person whose father (and not whose mother) possesses Yemeni nationality. The Women’s National Committee has prepared a report on this issue, calling for amendments to the existing legislation, which it submitted to the Council of Ministers. The Council, after considering the report, turned it over to the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which will make recommendations for submission to the Chamber of Deputies in due course.

(c) Other criteria relating to the acquisition of Yemeni nationality are birth within Yemen, naturalization and marriage (Articles 4, 5 and 11 of the Nationality Law).

Under Articles 10 and 12 of the Nationality Law, a Yemeni woman who marries a Muslim of another nationality retains her Yemeni nationality, unless she expressly renounces it at the time of her marriage or in the course of her married life, and provided she is entitled to citizenship of her husband’s country under its laws. In the event that the marriage should prove to be invalid, she retains her Yemeni nationality. Where a Yemeni man becomes a naturalized citizen of another country, his wife retains her Yemeni nationality, unless she declares that she wishes to acquire her husband’s new nationality.

Article 10 of the Nationality Law reads as follows: “Every Yemeni women who marries a Muslim of another nationality shall retain her Yemeni nationality, unless she wishes to renounce it and so states at the time of her marriage or in the course of her married life, provided she is entitled to citizenship of her husband’s country under its laws.”

Article 12 reads, “Where a Yemeni man becomes a naturalized citizen of another country, his naturalization shall not entail loss of Yemeni nationality for his wife, unless she declares that she wishes to acquire her husband’s new nationality. Minor children shall not lose their Yemeni nationality upon acquiring their father’s new nationality by filiation.”

Under Article 6 of the Passport Law (Law No. 7 of 1990), passports and travel documents may be issued, subject to the conditions set forth in Article 3 of the Law, to any person 16 years of age or older who possesses Yemeni nationality. The provisions of this law are general in scope and do not discriminate in any way against either women or men. Evidence of this is to be found in the fact that under that same article, the names of minor children are to be inscribed in the passport of one of their parents if the children are travelling abroad with them; the law does not specify that the names of the children must be inscribed in the father’s or the mother’s passport. The Passport Law also provides that a separate passport may be issued to a minor if necessary, subject to the consent of the parent or guardian of the minor in question.

Article 6 of the Passport Law reads as follows:

“Regular passports and travel documents, as defined in paragraphs 1-4 of Article 3 of this Law, may be issued to any person 16 years of age or older who possesses Yemeni nationality. The names of minor children shall be inscribed in the passport of one of their parents where the children are travelling abroad with them. A separate passport may be issued to a minor if necessary, subject to the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.”

Under Article 11 of the Passport Law, every person possessing Yemeni nationality may leave Yemen for, and return to Yemen from, the places specified in the visa placed by the competent authority in his or her passport or travel document in lieu of a passport. Other restrictions may apply, but a citizen may be prohibited from leaving the country only by order of the Public Prosecutor or a judge acting in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 of the Law. Article 13 of the Law, however, provides that a person who has been prohibited from leaving the country may appeal the prohibition order to the Office of the Public Prosecutor.

Article 11 of the Passport Law reads as follows:

“Every person possessing Yemeni nationality may leave Yemen for, and return to Yemen from, the places specified in the visa placed by the competent authority in his or her passport or travel document in lieu of a passport.”

Article 12 reads as follows:

“The Director of the Emigration, Passports and Nationality Service, or any other person duly authorized to act on his behalf, may, pursuant to an order issued by the Public Prosecutor or a judge, prohibit any person from leaving the country. The person concerned shall be notified of such prohibition. Where a visa has been placed in the passport or travel document of the person in question, such visa may be cancelled.”
Article 13 of the Passport Law reads as follows:

“Every person who is prohibited from leaving Yemen under Article 12 hereof may appeal the prohibition order to the office of the Public Prosecutor.”

Article 10

Education

Preschool education

Statistics given in the General Education Survey, 1999-2000 indicate that there are 170 kindergartens in Yemen, attended by 6168 boys and 5238 girls.

Table showing numbers of children attending kindergarten and numbers of staff members, by sex

Source: Ministry of Education, General Education Survey, 1999-2000.

As will be seen from the above table, female kindergarten teachers greatly outnumber their male counterparts, the former accounting for 92 per cent of the total, while the latter account for only 8 per cent. This is attributable to the fact that preschool children respond better to female teachers than to male teachers, since the former are generally more attuned to their needs. It should be noted that the table includes not only teachers as such, but other categories of staff, such as administrators, supervisors, secretaries, custodians and the like.

Primary education

The Government of Yemen has demonstrated great concern for primary education, and has built many schools, especially in rural areas. As a result, 3 206 866 Yemeni children now attend primary school, including 2 098 908 boys and 1 107 959 girls, as will be seen from the table below.

Table showing numbers of children attending primary school, 1999-2000

Source: Ministry of Education, General Education Survey, 1999-2000

As the table shows, while the number of pupils attending primary school has undoubtedly increased to an impressive extent, there is still a considerable gap between the respective attendance rates for boys and girls: the latter account for only 35 per cent of the total. This very low rate is attributable to a social prejudice against educating girls, which is particularly prevalent in rural areas.

Secondary education

In 1999-2000, there were 439 129 pupils attending secondary schools in Yemen, including 324 473 boys and 114 656 girls. The latter figure represents a striking increase compared to the corresponding figures for previous years (the number of girls attending secondary school was only 82 396 in 1998), but there is still a wide gap between boys and girls. This is attributable to the high dropout rate for girls at the secondary level, especially in rural areas, which in turn reflects the fact that there are few secondary schools for girls and not enough women teachers. Early marriage also contributes to the dropout phenomenon.

As will be seen from the table below, girls account for only 26 per cent of the secondary-school population, i.e. just over one quarter of the total, while boys account for 74 per cent, nearly three quarters of the total. There is thus a substantial gap between the sexes.

Table showing numbers of secondary-school pupils, by sex, 1999-2000

Source: Ministry of Education, General Education Survey, 1999-2000

Enrolment rates among children of school age (being updated)

The number of children enrolled in the first year of primary school in Yemen increased from 314 876 in 1990-1991 to 478 897 in 1997-1998. Growth in enrolment at this level was thus only 10 per cent, or an average of 1.8 per cent per year. During the same period, the numbers of children reaching school age increased by 8.5 per cent annually, i.e. at a much greater rate than the rate of increase in numbers of children actually enrolling. The country has thus fallen progressively further behind in its efforts to achieve universal education.

Literacy and adult education

Illiteracy continues to be very common in Yemen, despite a considerable effort to eliminate or reduce it. It is especially prevalent among women: 76 per cent of all Yemeni women, inhabitants of urban and rural areas taken together, are illiterate. This is a very high figure by comparison with other countries. The phenomenon is attributable either to the fact that relatively few girls attend primary school or to the fact that so many girls drop out, especially after Grade 4, i.e. at about the age of 10, especially in rural areas. Factors contributing to the dropout phenomenon include the fact that there are few schools for girls, so that girls must often travel long distances in order to attend school. Economic and social factors also have an adverse impact on school attendance by girls. Despite this difficult situation, the Literacy and Adult Education Service is doing its utmost to reduce illiteracy rates among women, and there are now some 852 literacy centres located both in urban and in rural areas.

The table below shows numbers of persons enrolled in literacy classes during the 1999-2000 school year.

Source: Literacy and Adult Education Service, Annual Statistics, 1999-2000.

Formal technical and vocational training

Persons with a primary-school certificate are eligible for technical and vocational training.

I – Technical education

The table below shows the number of students enrolled in technical education courses. As will be seen, all of them are boys. The absence of girl students may be attributable to social prejudice against this kind of training for girls, or to the fact that there are no job openings for girl graduates, owing to that same prejudice.

Source: Annual Statistics, 1999-2000.

II – Vocational training

Girls do enrol in vocational training courses, especially in commercial and health-related subjects, but only in very small numbers. In addition, there are few vocational training institutions (16 in the entire country). The situation is summarized in the table below.

Numbers of students in vocational training courses

Source: Annual Statistics, 1999-2000.



Non-formal training

In addition to the institutions referred to above, non-formal training is available in Yemen, but those who take it are not adequately trained and do not acquire the desired skills, owing to the fact that the country lacks properly qualified training personnel. It consists of short training programmes offered in facilities that are devoid of the necessary materials and equipment as well as skilled trainers. The facilities in question are:
- Economically productive family centres, of which there are 46 in the country;
- Women’s training centres run by political parties;
- Development centres for rural women;
- Training centres for disabled women;
- Women’s training centres run by the private sector;
- Cultural centres, health centres, youth centres and agricultural centres operated by Government agencies.

Higher education

The numbers of students enrolled in institutions of higher education has increased substantially. More universities have been opened, some by the Government and some by the private sector, to accommodate the flood of students who graduate each year from the country’s secondary schools. Reflecting the importance of university-level education and the Government’s concern with it, a Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has recently been established. The table on the following page shows numbers of students attending public universities in 1999-2000.

As will be seen from this table, women students tend to be concentrated in a number of fields, including in particular education, languages, science, literature and medicine. In other fields, including agriculture, engineering, Shari’ah and law and oceanography, there is a very wide gap between the numbers of men and women students. This situation is attributable to the fact that there is a social prejudice against women studying these subjects, and consequently few job openings for women graduates in them.

There is also a substantial gap between men and women students in terms of total numbers: the former account for 76 per cent of all university students, while the latter account for only 24 per cent. This indicates that the dropout phenomenon is no less pronounced among university-level women than it is among girls at earlier stages in the education system. There are a number of factors that contribute to that phenomenon, including:
- The fact that universities are predominantly located in major cities, and none of them except the University of Sana’a offers living quarters for women students;
- Early marriage
- The fact that there are few job openings for women university graduates in the private sector, which as a rule offers women only secretarial jobs, regardless of their qualifications;
- The difficult economic circumstances currently besetting many families, especially in rural areas, make it very difficult for girls to attend institutions of higher education.

Numbers of students attending Yemen’s seven public universities in the academic year 1999-2000
(Yemeni students only)

Table showing numbers of women who graduated from public universities in Yemen,
1997-1998, 1998-1999 and 1999-2000

Women in the teaching profession

Breakdown of primary-level school personnel by sex

Source: Ministry of Education, General Education Survey, 1999-2000.

As will be seen from the above table, women continue to account for only a small fraction of all primary-school personnel. Three per cent of the principals are women, while 97 per cent are men; 19 per cent of the teachers are women, whereas 81 per cent are men. This very wide gap characterizes every aspect of the primary-level teaching profession.

Breakdown of secondary-level school personnel by sex