Yemeni women excluded from high political positions

Dr. Huda Alban

Yemeni women are completely excluded from high posts in the government, although there is some female participation in the public sector, said a recent study on women conducted by the Women’s Leadership Forum in Sana’a.  There are many seats occupied by women in the Civil Society Organizations, whereas there is a notable dearth of seats occupied by women in the Parliament and Shura Council.  The study, conducted by Dr. Abtehaj al-Kamal, who is the head of the forum, showed that although there are two female ministers as a result of the new governmental reshuffle, the government has not yet allowed a woman to take the leadership of a service or sovereign ministry. 

The study underscored that all of the representatives of the ministries are males, while there are just two females working as deputies for some ministries.  Moreover, there no Yemeni woman occupies the presidency of any university or academic association in the higher education sector.        In a democracy, the government is meant to reflect the makeup of the population. Given that at least half of the population in Yemen is female, if the government is to be truly representative, women should fill half of the seats in government. Yemen is a very long way from that goal.

A high rate of Yemeni women have registered to participate in the political process, especially in the voter registration records. About 15 percent of Yemeni women were registered in such records in 1993. The rate rose to 51 percent in 2003, and to 42 percent in 2006. Women participate in the Yemeni Parliament at the rate of 0.33 percent. Of  the 11 women nominated for parliamentary posts in 2003, only one woman won to become a member of parliament. Men occupy 300 seats. In the first parliamentary elections held after Yemeni unification, in 1993, two women managed to reach the parliament, of the 48 women nominated. 

This happened again in 1997, when again two women managed to be members in the parliament, out of 23 female candidates.  In last fall’s local elections, some 19,223 candidates were competing for about 6,000 seats. But there were just 168 women nominated in these elections, according to the latest local elections’ results.  During one day in the lead up to the Sept. 20 elections, the number of female candidates for these elections increased from 35 women to 168. This increase came as a result of a peaceful march made by some female political activists before the closing of the candidacy. 

The political leadership had promised that it would support the election of women. To this end, President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered his party to withdraw its male candidates from the constituencies in which women were nominated. In the local councils' elections in 2001, the rate of women's representation made little progress, since only 26 seats were occupied by women in the councils of governorates and districts. However, in the local councils' elections in 2006, women managed to attain 35 seats, or 0.5 percent, of 3,053 members in the local government councils. 

Dr. Amat al-Razzaq Hummad

Such rate is insignificant compared to the overwhelmingly male dominance of these councils, which play a significant and direct role in education, health and social services programs—issues that affect women enormously. Until the beginning of this century, there was no female minister. In April, 2001, Dr. Wahibah Faraa was appointed as the Minister of Human Rights to become the first female minister for the first Ministry of Human Rights in Yemen. Then, Ms. Amat al-Aleem al-Sosoah became the second female minister for human rights.   In March 2006, two women won positions in the governmental reshuffle.

Dr. Amat al-Razzaq Hummad became the Minister for Social Affairs and Labor, and Dr. Khadija al-Haisami became the Minister of Human Rights. But even as a result of this latest shuffle in April 2007,  there were only two, or about 6 percent, female ministers out of 35 ministers. Those two ministries are now linked traditionally to women and seem to have become women’s ministries. The first Shura Council of Yemen formed in 2001, including only two women.  The Shura Council is composed of 111 members, including two women, namely Mona Bashrahil, a former member in the Parliament, and Fatima Bin Mohammed, a journalist.

The number of women in the council has not increased since then. Women’s participation in political parties and their political participation overall is still very weak, the study found.  Women are excluded from decision-making positions in he political parties.  So, the gap is still wide between programs meant to increase political participation and the effective reality.     Currently, there is only one Yemeni female ambassador, Ms. Noriah al-Hamami, in Turkey.
Al-Hamami is preceded by Ms. Amat al-Aleem al-Sosoah as an ambassador for Yemen in Holland, 2000. However, 55 percent of leaders in local society organizations and associations are females.  So, it is not possible to neglect the great role played by such associations in serving Yemeni women’s issues and helping them to combat such problems. The study attributed women’s weak participation in the government to social reasons.

Women are treated as inferior to men in society, and there is a lack of democratic traditions in Yemeni society. Also, families and society exert social pressures on women, telling them to stay out of “men’s roles.” There are also some personal factors. Women may lack confidence in their own skills, which may effect their participation. And because women still do not receive the same educational opportunities as men in Yemen, they begin life with a marked disadvantage.

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