Afrah Nasser edits Yemen Observer on International Women’s Day

The Yemen Observer has appointed its staff journalist Afrah Nasser as editor-in-chief for Monday’s edition in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8.

Mohammed al-Kibsi, editor-in-chief of Yemen Observer, said that Nasser was an excellent journalist and the newspaper’s best journalist for 2010. Although she only joined the newspaper last year, Nasser has been to four countries for work-related conferences. “In addition to writing the social page, Nasser is contributing in various aspects of life. She also reports on art, culture, sports and even politics,” said al-Kibsi of her work.

  “She deserves to be the editor-in-chief and we all will help her to come out with a brilliant edition on the occasion of International Women’s Day.”    He said that Nasser on her birthday also came up with a brilliant humanitarian idea. She asked all her friends that wanted to give her gifts on her birthday to donate cans of food to be distributed to the poor.

He also said that the Yemen Observer had been assisting her by distributing collection boxes at different shops and premises where people could donate cans of food for the poor. Yazeed Kamaldien, editor at the Yemen Observer, praised Nasser for her dedication to journalism. He also said that she was determined to overcome the challenges facing women in a “very male-dominated environment”. “She is the only female journalist in our newsroom and shines through her hard work. She has the right attitude to make a success of her career as a journalist. She has ethics and justice and I hope that this is the start of her path to leadership in the Yemeni media scene.

She deserves it,” said Kamaldien. “I also hope that Yemen’s women are appreciated on International Women’s Day. They seem to face many cultural and societal challenges. Everybody needs to play a role to ensure that women are not oppressed or face discrimination. The Yemen Observer is showing the right kind of leadership by affording women access to opportunities and growth.”   Zaid al-Alaya’a, editor-in-chief of Yemen Today magazine, has worked with Nasser and said that she “takes pride in everything she does”. “She does her work with passion and style. She has that rare endless hunger for knowledge.

 The best thing in her character is that she never compromises when it comes to the quality of her work,” he said.


  Nasser was among 23 media figures honored by the Yemeni Women Media Forum (YMWF) on Thursday. They were recognized as pioneers and supporters for women’s issues. The forum aims to shed light on the importance of Yemeni women’s media work.  Hasan al-Lawzi, the Minister of Information, handed certifications to the pioneers. He said that Yemeni women achieved progress in “several fields and sectors and also obtained high level posts around the country in the government”. He also thanked Rahmah Hugaira, the YMWF’s chairwomen, for her effort and support for Yemeni women in media.  Intsar Omer, general Manger of the department of Women and Children at the Ministry of Information, said that women around Yemen have been flourishing in the media field since the country’s unification. However, there was still a lot of work to be done.  “Unification has definitely helped women in Yemen to obtain several positions but they still have many challenges ahead of them.

 Twenty-seven newspapers and magazines had female chief editors but these are publications that are owned mainly by those female editors. This indicates the hardship that women face to have those kinds of posts from other sources,” said Omer. Amal al-Basha, chairperson of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights,  expressed condemnation at the continuous violation of women’s rights in Yemen. “Before talking about women’s achievements in media it’s very important to stress on how there has been ongoing violations of women’s rights around Yemen, with no one to investigate this,” said al-Basha.      

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