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Yemen

Women, Revolution, Politics and Power

During the Arab uprisings, an unprecedented number of women took to the streets, paving the way for a more important role in politics. However, in the transitional period that follows, they now have to fight against their exclusion from the political arena.

The extent of their participation in the new political process, the author argues, will depend on three main factors: their contribution to the democratic culture established, the nature and role of political Islam, as well as gender representation in the news media. As her research in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria suggests, the fight to carry the women‘s newly found political status through the transitional period will blur the conflict lines between the „traditional-religious“ and the „urban-modern-non-religious“ blocs. Arab women are finding new forms of political participation, distinct from the Western models.

Aspiring for True Democracy: The Role of Women and Youth in the Arab Spring

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2011-11-01 06:56
2011-11-08 16:00
Etc/GMT-4
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Washington, DC
Country: 
United States
Venue: 

National Democratic Institute

455 Massachusetts Avenue NW

8th Floor

Washington, DC 20001

Description: 

 

Aspiring for True Democracy:
The Role of Women and Youth
in the Arab Spring

with
Dr. Azza Kamel
Egypt

Dr. Kamel is the director of Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT), the winner of NDI’s 2011 Madeleine K. Albright Grant. Over the past 18 years, she has worked tirelessly as a women rights activist. Since the fall of the Mubarak regime, ACT has worked to ensure women’s voices are included in the transition process.

Dr. Amal Habib Al Yusuf
Bahrain

A member of the Al Wefaq political society, Dr. Al Yusef is also an activist and ophthalmic surgeon who focuses on defending the rights of Bahraini patients and health care workers. She was one of the medics trapped in the main hospital in Bahrain during a siege by military forces earlier this year.

Rafat Al Akhali
Yemen

Mr. Al Akhali is a youth activist who returned to Yemen from Canada to participate in the revolution.  He is a leader in Resonate! Yemen, an organization that promotes youth engagement on policy initiatives.

As the Arab Spring has moved across the Middle East and North Africa, grassroots calls for democratic reform have opened avenues for increased political participation by traditionally marginalized groups.  Youth and women, often at the vanguard of the reform movements, have seized platforms to present their visions for the future of their countries.  But in many instances they face barriers to achieving decision- and policy-making roles, particularly within traditional political institutions. Panelists will discuss the significant role women and youth played in the recent movements for change and what challenges lie ahead for sustained political engagement.

Facilitated by

Barrie Freeman 
NDI Director, North Africa

Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011
12 – 1:30 p.m. 
National Democratic Institute
455 Massachusetts Ave., NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20001

Please register by Monday, Nov. 7
at http://www.ndi.org/events_rsvp

Lunch will be served

Cohosted by NDI, iKNOW Politics and Aswat.


Yemen: women burn veils in Sanaa in anti-Saleh protest

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-10-26 13:09

Summary: 

Hundreds of women have set fire to their traditional veils in Yemen in protest at the violence used against anti-government demonstrators.

The women, in the capital Sanaa, made a pile of veils in the street which they then doused with petrol and set alight.

Women have played a key part in the uprising against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Body: 

Read more on BBC News, published 26 Oct


Yemen: Nobel Peace winner Tawakul Karman lobbies UN

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-10-19 12:44

Summary: 

Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman is visiting New York to demand action from the UN to end the bloodshed in her native Yemen.

She led a small demonstration outside UN headquarters calling for Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to be tried for the deaths of protesters.Security Council members are considering a draft resolution urging Mr Saleh to step down.

Ms Karman is a leading pro-democracy figure in Yemen. She was one of three joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month.

Body: 

Read the whole story at BBC News, published 19 Oct


Arab States: Arab Activists Celebrate Yemeni’s Nobel Prize

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2011-10-07 08:26

Summary: 

Though the committee did not mention the revolutions that have coursed through the Arab world this year, many Arabs writing in social media saw the inclusion of Ms. Karman as a nod to their efforts and discussed what it would mean for the future of protests there, especially in Yemen.

In return, Ms. Karman said in an interview with Al Arabiya television: “I dedicate it to all the activists of the Arab Spring.” The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has resisted months of large-scale demonstrations calling for him to step down. While Ms. Karman’s activism began before the current protests, she has been strongly associated with them. In a sign of how she is viewed by officials in the country, the state television station appears to have ignored the Nobel announcement, according to a freelance journalist, Tom Finn, who covers the country.

Body: 

Read more in New York Times, 7th October


Global: Nobel Peace Prize recognises women rights activists

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2011-10-07 05:46

Summary: 

This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to three women - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen.

They were recognised for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".

Mrs Sirleaf is Africa's first female elected head of state, Ms Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist and Ms Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement.

Body: 

Read more on BBC News, published 7. Oct


Yemen: Youth Ready to Confront Gender Roles

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-05-04 20:17

Summary: 

Despite being at the forefront of sweeping changes taking place in the country, the lives of the majority of Yemeni women are restricted to early marriage, motherhood and serving husbands, according to a new study by Women Without Borders (WWB), a Vienna based public relations and advocacy platform for women’s voices around the world. The survey reveals that women are largely restricted to the private sphere and discouraged from participating in public life.

The result of questionnares by WWB, distributed amongst 600 students at Yemen’s Sana’a University on the eve of the February this year stated that over half of the male respondents feel that allowing women to work undermines their religious practices. However, a majority of both men and women see changing gender roles as an opportunity to fare better in a fast globalising world



 

Body: 

For more information, please visit: IPS


Yemen: Yemen protests - Women take centre stage

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-04-27 01:29

Summary: 

When anti-government demonstrations first began in Yemen three months ago, many predicted that they were likely to fail because - unlike Tunisia or Egypt - Yemen would not be able to mobilise half of its population. The sceptics could not have been more wrong.

Body: 

For more information, please visit: BBC.Com


Arab states: Women have emerged as key players in the Arab spring

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2011-04-26 01:11

Summary: 

Through protesting, organising, blogging and hunger-striking, women have taken a central role, but it remains to be seen whether their rights will improve

Body: 

For more information, please visit The Guardian.  


Yemen: Female demonstrators lash out at defamation campaign

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2011-04-19 06:08

Summary: 

Yemeni women activists are responding combatively to the media war waged by state outlets this week aimed at denouncing female participation in protests sweeping the nation.

Sparking the row, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday criticized gender intermingling during the demonstrations in a televised speech delivered to thousands of pro-regime supporters.  

“I call on them [the joint meeting parties] to reject the mixing of sexes as it’s forbidden by Islam,” Saleh urged in Sanaa.

Body: 

To read more on this, El-Masry El-Youm