Yemen's Burning

Scenes of a different protest were seen on the streets of Sana'a, Yemen today. The recent demonstrations have taken the form of an uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's authoritarian rule. However, the government ordered a crackdown on the demonstrators, which resulted in scene of violence, and at least 25 people were killed. So, today, women of Sana’a were scene burning their traditional veils in protest of the violent crackdown.

Women have become increasingly politically active in Yemen, and have been playing a significant part in the recent demonstrations, and it has not gone unnoticed. Earlier this month Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman, and two Liberian women were awarded the Nobel peace prize for their struggle for women’s rights.

Yemen is still a land where the equality gap between men and women is stark and even shocking to our western ears. Although young early marriage has decreased in recent years, 27% of Yemeni girls between 15 and 19 are either married, widowed or divorced. There are no laws against domestic violence and there is no recognition of spousal rape as a crime. Polygamy, according to Islamic Sharia Law, is legal, where men are at liberty to have up to 4 wives, providing he has the finances to support them. However, there is no law that states a man has to consult or even inform his wife if he decides to practise polygamy, nor does she have any right to protest. Furthermore, traditionally a women must ask her husband or guardians permission to leave the family household, and has no right to apply for a passport unless their guardian agrees.

Furthermore, they have no legal rights over their children, despite being expected to take care of most parental duties, there are no laws against sexual harassment in the workplace and they risk being harassed or attacked in public if deemed to be dressed inappropriately.

All in all, in comparison to the equality we experience in the western world, they appear as prisoners. They have little freedom over their own bodies, no freedom of movement, and no rights to the children they raise or against the husbands they care for. To see the women of Yemen standing up, not only for themselves, but against the government that keeps them so confined, is an inspiration.

As they burnt the veils, they were still dressed in the traditional makrama, and this was not a protest against the way they are pressured to dress. It is actually a traditional Bedouin gesture, that is symbolic of asking the tribesmen for help in troubled times. In this case for help against the ongoing violence that has resulted in 25 deaths overnight, despite a ceasefire being declared by Saleh on Tuesday.

However, symbolic or not, the act is brave and it is loud. It shouts to the world that women in Yemen, despite being deprived of so many rights that we take for granted, have a voice, and they know how to use it. And they are using it in a way that honours their culture, and yet translates into every language.

I will be waiting and watching, and hope you will too, as these women begin to shape their own world, with dignity, with pride and with power.