Women in Yemen
A female Yemeni doctor examines an infant
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| Gender Inequality Index | |
|---|---|
| Value | 0.733 (2013) |
| Rank | 152nd out of 152 |
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 200 (2010) |
| Women in parliament | 0.7% (2013) |
| Females over 25 with secondary education | 7.6% (2012) |
| Women in labour force | 25.2% (2012) |
| Global Gender Gap Index | |
| Value | 0.5128 (2013) |
| Rank | 136th out of 144 |
Women in Yemen have historically had a big power difference in society than men.
Although the government of Yemen has made efforts that will improve the rights of women in Yemen (including the formation of a Women's Development Strategy and a Women Health Development Strategy), many cultural and religious norms, along with poor enforcement of this legislation from the Yemeni government, have prevented Yemeni women from having equal rights to men.
In 2016 Yemeni women do not hold many economic, social or cultural rights. While suffrage was gained in 1967 and constitutional and legal protection was extended to women during the first years of Yemen unity between 1990–1994, they continue to struggle “in exercising their full political and civil rights”. History shows that women have played major roles in Yemeni society. Some women of pre-Islamic and early Islamic Yemen held elite status in society. The Queen of Sheba, for example, “is a source of pride for the Yemeni nation”. In addition, Queen Arwa has been noted for her attention to infrastructure, which added to a documented time of prosperity under her rule. Modern day women of Yemen, however, are subject to a society that reflects largely agrarian, tribal, and patriarchal traditions. This, combined with illiteracy and economic issues has led women to continuously be deprived of their rights as citizens of Yemen.
While Article 40 and 41 of the 1990 unification constitution of Yemen stipulates that all citizens are considered equal before the law and that “Every citizen has the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country” gender discrimination is prevalent in Yemen.
The addition of Article 31 to the constitution, which states that "Women are the sisters of men...they have rights and duties, which are guaranteed and assigned by Shari'a and stipulated by law" has seemingly nullified the equality extended by the constitution due to its use as a base for discriminatory laws. This is due to the specific reading of Shari'a, which restricts the rights of women. Today, many Yemeni activist women believe that Shari'a can be interpreted to further include women in the social, political, economic, and cultural life of the country.
Many of the discriminatory policies restrict familial rights of women. Women in Yemen cannot marry a non-Yemeni without approval from both her family and the state. Further, under the Nationality Law of 1990, Yemeni women cannot pass their citizenship onto their children unless the woman divorces her husband, her husband is found to be insane or her husband dies, in which case the children can gain citizenship when they turn 19. The children of Yemeni men married to foreigners, on the other hand, are ensure Yemeni citizenship. Further, divorce and even testimony of women is not equal to that of Yemeni men. Yemeni men have the right to divorce their wives at any time without justification, a woman on the other hand must go through a process of litigation in which they justify their reason for nullifying the marriage contract. Before the court, a woman is considered only half a person, that is it takes “the testimony of two women” to equal “the testimony of one man.” Additionally, women are prohibited from testifying in cases of adultery, slander, theft or sodomy by Article 45 (21) of the 1992 Evidence Law.
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Wikipedia