Empowering Yemeni Women

Yemen is a country that has been suffering from extreme poverty and war since 2015. In many cases, women, who constitute 49.63% of Yemeni society, were among the groups most exposed to the devastating effects of armed conflict, in addition to other social impacts, such as gender-based violence, divorce spread, exploitation, exclusion from access to the necessary aid, absence of social involvement, deprivation of education, and lack of access to basic health care and sometimes life-saving nutrition. Despite the occurrence of these effects at different levels, the role of local organizations working in these sectors was nearly able to overcome these problems during the past eight years with the support of international donors and the governmental authorities' response to many measures that comply with social customs. This was apparent later in the level of women’s participation in various community issues, the alleviation of their suffering, and obtaining a set of rights that were previously prohibited.

Improving women’s lives by empowering them economically through providing job opportunities, supporting training that enables them to have competitive skills in the labor market, boosting their leadership in the community, expanding their ability to access various services, such as education, and easily getting loans, financing, and financial products that support small, medium, and entrepreneurial projects owned by women will all create a more homogeneous society, enhance gender equity, and make Yemeni females stronger and capable of protecting themselves and their families. It will also help increasing the income of families supported by women.

In this context, #USAID has significant support through its local partners, where $1.34 million was provided last year in women-only loans. It helped more than 500 Yemeni women obtain jobs in manufacturing, health, education, and other training areas. Regarding agricultural production and food security, 3,500 Yemeni women benefited from the agency’s grant, and this is what qualified them to practice their agricultural activities more professionally. In terms of empowering women who have fishing boats and provide for their families, 5% of the total number of beneficiaries, which is 1,000 in only two districts in Taiz and Hadramout, were women. Surprisingly, the number of beneficiaries from their families was 1597 women, 1336 girls, and 1349 boys. This project was implemented by the #Field Medical Foundation.

“We encountered challenges in identifying the groups most in need because of the enormous spread of poverty. Women, unluckily, are not usually engaged in fishing because of the difficulty of working and the need to enter the sea at different times. Yet what we found is that some female breadwinners own boats inherited from their deceased husbands. From renting the boats, they feed their kids. This definitely encouraged us to take care of this group in particular." Engineer Hussein, the project officer, said. Fatima, with 5 children to support, adds, "the fishing tools that we owned were worn out, and I had to replace them by savings or a loan. Nonetheless, this was difficult, especially with the war conditions in Yemen and the high costs of these materials. Actually, I was lucky when I received help from this project."

The same organization executed a Food Assistance for Training (FFT) project sponsored by #WFP. It successfully benefited 550 women, 9% of the total beneficiaries, in nine rural districts. Further, 3850 women and children benefited from those family supporters. This project focused on training women in charge of their families in handicrafts, like sewing, making incense, hairdressing, and make- up, then giving each woman the necessary tools to enable her to work and granting cash directly from the main donor to help them launch their projects. For instance, Zainab, 40 years old and a family carer, said that this project is very special. It really empowers women; it does not leave them after training but rather finances their projects and puts them on the right path to earn money. She adds, "my colleagues and I now own small projects and work from home. This generates income for us - after we were poor waiting for food aid - and protect our children."

Lack of Yemeni women empowerment is mainly due to the absence of law obligating stakeholders, the government, and organizations, and the strategy for women’s inclusion cannot be measured due to the war in Yemen. Despite the efforts made by women’s and human rights organizations, mainly with the support of the #UNHCR, the biggest challenge for organizations is to develop a national strategy for the inclusion of women, specifically those who live in rural areas, where no services. These centers have helped raising community awareness, reducing the abuse rates against women, and providing psychological and social support to females of all ages in the targeted communities, especially from the most vulnerable groups in Yemen.