Unification and women's rights
TEMEN (SANA)
THE unification, ratified on May 22, 1990, of the Yemen
Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the People's
ISAUDI ARALIA: 7
WOMEN: YEMEN
INTRODUCTION Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY — South Yemen), removing a frontier created by colonialism, has come as part of the new world context marked by the Imperialist victory in the Gulf and the fall of the dictatorships in eastern Europe (Including, In the USSR and East Germany, the principal supporters of the PDRY), and in a region dominated by a profoundly reactionary Saudi Arabia. While this unification meets the wishes of the Saudi monarchy. concerned for many years by the prospect of an extension of the revolution in the south of the peninsula, It is nonetheless the case that up until now the process has not involved the straightforward absorption of one state by the other, on the lines of the annexation of East Germany by the Federal Republic, but rather a fusion of two states, equal in poverty, but of differing social natures.
Moreover, unification is far from being concluded and takes place against a background of tribal and/or fundamentalist agitation orchestrated by Saudi Arabla and of Imperialist pressures designed to make the new state pay for its neutrality during the Gulf War.
Nothing has yet been settled so far as women are concerned: how to "fuse" the status of women in the north, inspired by the Islamic Sharia, Improved thanks to a relative opening in the 1980s, and again degraded at the end of the decade under Saudi pressure, with that existing in the south, where the constitution guarantees the legal equality of the two sexes, where divorce was authorized, polygamy forbidden, and so on In the south this serles of legal measures, accompanied by a social policy in matters of health, education, and employment, created an unprecedented situation in the Arabian peninsula and constituted a revolutionary advance for women in a context of tribalism, illiteracy, and economic backwardness Today only the Yemen Socialist Party, formerly in power in the south, continues to defend these gains, but it is making compromises in the framework of the new state and its policy towards defending or abandoning the gains of the Yemeni revolution rests more on partisan interests than on an appeal to a mobilization of Interests (women, peasants, and so on), even if it uses the islands of resistance as a significant means of pressure, It is in this context of an as yet undecided relationship of forces that international Viewpoint Interviewed two women who occupy key posts Inside the apparatus of the new state, The Interviews were conducted by Michele Pisigo. AMAT AL-ALEEM SOUSUWAH is an active member of the Union of Yemeni Women (UYW). She works as an assistant at the Ministry of Information, the highest professional rank held by a woman inside the administration.
W HAT is the history of
the Union of Yemeni Women? The Union of Yemeni Women was created in South Yemen, in
Aden in 1967, after the withdrawal of the British. Parallel to this, the Association of Yemeni Women (AYW) was created in North Yemen in 1963. This association, under the guidance of the Ministry of Social Affairs, offered women courses in literacy and vocational training in several towns in Yemen!. Today, the UYW is the only organization recognized in the unified Yemen.
The political situation immediately after unification did not favour the holding of elections inside the organization.
•AI. Arabias S.. YEMEN (ADEN: enter al Ore
Ç.11 ./ Ad.. That is why the government nominated Aida Saied president until the next scheduled election. The functioning of the UYW depends essentially on the dues paid by its members and it is composed, in its great majority, of illiterate women from the popular class. Thanks to this affiliation, they have the possibility of improving their situation, particularly through acquiring training.
The number one objective is fighting illiteracy, which affects 91% of women and 50% of men. That is why some intellectuals have begun a campaign to put an end to this social plague. They write in the press, and propose literacy courses and action plans while maintaining a dialogue with the government. What will be the results of this activity? It is going to be necessary to proceed by stages and take account of the different points of view inside the UYW. Unity is necessary to effectively defend the rights of women as much on the economic as on the social or cultural plane. • What were the laws in force before reunification, and what are they today?
Before unification the women's associations of the north remained subject to the Muslim tradition in a country where the family code dating from 1978 has been ignored. Some positive results have been obtained in South Yemen where the government issued a family code in 1974 that profoundly changed the condition of women. This was a very much more egalitarian law, drawing heavily on the example of the Tunisian code.
After unification, fairly recently, a committee was founded in Yemen whose objective is to elaborate a general project dealing with all questions to do with the life of women. This committee has begun to draw up a new family law. In my opin1. Nearly 200,000 women participated in these courses in 1984/85. 2. Aida Saied is also a member of the Yemeni parlia- 11 3. Census of 1986/87/88.
WOMEN: YEMEN ion, it should not limit itself to Islamic texts alone. This law should be constructed in a very much more jurisprudential fashion, conforming to our times.
This project, which was set up with the help of the Minister of Justice and of Legal Affairs, will soon be presented to parliament. We wish to make some changes in the status of Yemeni women in the areas of divorce, polygamy, age of marriage, and care of children (see following interview). But our problems are not limited to laws alone. also in social reality with all its sociocultural differences. Beyond the impact of the sharia (Islamic law) it is necessary to take account of a social history dominated by a tribal structure.
There is an obvious gap between laws and social reality experienced everyday. The constitution* envisages the principle of equality in law of all Yemeni citizens, without discrimination on sex - but it is much more difficult to reconcile the texts with reality. We are then confronted with problems of a hispsycho-sociological Yemeni society is undeniably a society of • What is the status of divorce in Yemen?
To my knowledge, there is no in depth study on this question. There are few divorces in our country. We demand that it be decided by a tribunal after an examination of the family situation. We wish to forbid unilateral divorce where the man • Have initiatives been taken to popularize contraception and what do men think about this?
There are some family planning centres. They exist in the principal towns but access to them is difficult for the women of the countryside. Many men stop their wives from going to the centres. The reasons are many: firstly, social, because a woman who has many children enjoys a respected status, economic because children often help their father with work women can obtain the pill in the centres or at the pharmacies, but with no social security cover. • What is your personal opinion on abortion?
Religion forbids women to have abortions, but it can be allowed in cases of necessity and with the agreement of the husband. As Yemenis and Muslims we have a different reasoning from yours. Abortion is an almost non-existent right in Yemen. What counts in the popular mentality is the medical protection given to the women and to the child. 12 • Let us now turn to the question of International Viewpoint #224 • March 16, 1992 polygamy. Can you tell us about it?
No normal woman can accept polygamy. In the law which is soon to be dissome measures are going to regulate it. Polygamy is not advised by the Koran except in cases of sterility of the first wife. It is necessary to be aware all the same that polygamy is less and less common in Yemen. • What is the place accorded to young women in the schools and
Secular schools have now replaced the religious schools. At the time of the Britcolonization in Aden there were already some faculties in the south of Yemen. Today, there is a growing interest in the education of girls, particularly in the urban areas. Many among them finish their studies before university and very few follow higher studies in San'a (15% of women). We also do not know the rate of participation of girls in the schools: what is certain is that it is lower than that of boys. This is also explained by the fact that 50% of girls are married at the age of 13 years. • Is there equality of rights between men and women at the professional level? Is it easy for a Yemeni woman to combine a professional life with a family life?
Men and women receive an equal salary for an equivalent qualification. Howwomen work (6%), which makes all demands in this field difficult. It is not easy to combine a professional life with a family life. The principal difficulty resides in the absence of public crèches.
The private crèches are expensive. That is why women have recourse to maternity leave. But this unpaid leave should in no case suppress the rights acquired beforehand. This problem of preservation of rights must be shortly examined by the Ministry of Labour. • Do women play a significant political role?
Political experience has been different in the North and the South. Women won the right to vote in 1982 in North Yemen and in 1969 in the south. They can now candidates in national elections, whether this is in the political parties, the trade unions or in parliament where they have 9 seats against 124 men. RAUFA HASSAN (Dr Amatalrauf AlSharki) is a woman activist, director of an artistic centre and meeting place for women, and President of the Committee for the Revision of Laws, newly set up in San'a. She has been active inside the Association of Yemeni Women (North Yemen) and is a journalist with the daily newspaper Al Thawra (Revolution). • You are the president of the Committee of Revision. Can you tell us what are the objectives of such a
This committee has been recently set up on the initiative of men and women with a post of president, four representatives of the UYW and six members of the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs. It meets each week to elaborate a new law on the family following unification.
To meet such an objective, we must find a just compromise between the family code in the south (1974) and that in the north (1978). These two laws, the one religious, the other secular, will be still applied in Yemen during a two year transitional period. What will be the results of such a compromise?
The Committee is trying to follow with great prudence certain rules of the sharia. What is certain is that the south could lose certain gains, whereas the north has the chance to make some progress. In Yemen, one does not speak of the rights of women but rather of the rights of the family. Our deliberations centre around 4 points:
• Polygamy: henceforth, a man, to remarry, must obtain the agreement of a judge, demand the authorization of his first then his second wife, and materially provide for each of his wives. The first wife, for her part, can claim a divorce.
• The age of marriage: in conformance with the sharia, the minimum age for marriage is 9 years for girls and 12 years for boys (a practice widely applied in the north and east of the country. The committee demands a minimum age of 18 for the two sexes.
• Divorce: it should be officially pronounced by a judge at the demand of the man or the woman.
• Childcare: according to the 1978 family code, the woman has the right to keep her children seven years after the divorce and five years if she remarries. The man can then get the children back. According to the 1974 law, the child is entrusted to its mother until the age of 10 years if it is a boy and 15 if it is a girl. For the committee, the judge will decide after analysis of the material and moral situations of the father and mother.
All these propositions will then be submitted to Parliament. * 4. In the 1963 and 1970 constitutions "women are sisters of men and have rights and duties prescribed in the Sharia and formulated in the law". In 1991, a referendum was organized on the new constitution (95% for, 5% against). It is currently half-secular, half-religious and has 131 articles of a socio-political, economic and cultural character. 5. According to the results of a study carried out by the Yemeni Centre of Study and Research at San'a, there are some discriminatory clauses which prevent women occupying high level political and judicial functions.
The spiral of decline ment in 1985, this has been the social conflict which has led to the greatest number of arrests.
This recourse to repression has led to a big debate inside the FA; the MPP is violently opposed and defends the right of all to earn a living.*
URUGUAY opposed to radical measures and wants gradual reforms, for fear of social agitation. • This policy, even in moderate form, could still have significant economic and social consequences.