Script:
Yemen is facing a number of development challenges. The poverty rate runs at about 40 per cent. The illiteracy rate is 52%; for women it is over 70 per cent. When a woman tries to find a job, she faces severe pressure to conform to the traditional roles women and men have in this society.
Man
It’s true I have educated my daughter, but within limits. The boys can work and the girls can read the Quran. They can read and write to be able to distinguish right from wrong. But my aim for her to be either a consultant or a minister or a director, no! This is not her destiny after marriage. God knows!
Man
All these issues you are talking about are nonsense. I am an educated man and I am responsible for my children. I am in charge of my household and my woman. This talk is nonsense, wrong, wrong, wrong.
Dr. Amat Alrazza Hommad is the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, one of the few women to hold a high position in Yemen’s government.
Dr. Amat Alrazza Hommad
The Yemeni labour law and civil service code are the most equitable within the Arab region regarding women. Yemen has also signed most of the International Labour Conventions, and reflects their provisions in Yemeni national laws.
But despite this fact, there is a big gap between law and practice concerning equal rights, opportunities for and treatment of women. This is perhaps the biggest challenge of our ministry, and requires raising the awareness of our society. Because our main struggle is not an institutional one in essence, but it is society’s perception of women workers.
The “Directorate General of Women Workers” in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour provides training programmes for both women and men workers from the public and private sectors, focusing on workers’ rights, social protection, social dialogue and gender equality, Some of these efforts are supported by the ILO/Netherlands Partnership project “Promoting Decent Work and Gender Equality in Yemen”.
The training programs have been organised throughout Yemen, helping both women and men understand their rights at work and raising their awareness on gender equality. One of the women trainers was assigned to Hadramout, one of Yemen’s most conservative regions, where many establishments did not even have a single woman worker.
Woman
When we wanted to train there, my colleague said it would be hard. To be honest, yes I was scared. Even when I went I did not know how to address the men. But later, when I started to talk, they grew to like the training. Their own perception of women started to change. Even their boss wished they would have a woman like me working with them.
Thanks to the work of the Women’s Directorate and the partnership between government, employers, and trade unions, thousands of women and men workers across the five governorates have received training in the concepts of decent work and gender equality. The programme itself is now seen as a prime example of good practice for social dialogue across the country. Perceptions concerning working women are slowly starting to evolve.
Ali AlHada, Administrative Assistant
I would have liked my wife to work out of the house. The economic situation is tough, and raising children requires a lot of money. If she had a job, my wife could help with the expenses.
Even the most conservative of women take pride in their employment and their newly-found voice. Sabah alHindi is the Administrative Coordinator in the Directorate.
Sabah al Hindi, Administrative Coordinator in the Directorate
My family members are surprised. How is it that our daughter is accomplishing so much? Now even my brothers encourage me. At home, I am the only breadwinner, but I also take care of my mother or other family members when they are sick, I take care of everything. My mother always says, “My daughter is the man and the woman of the house!
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