Yemeni Women's Union

Yemeni Women's Union
Ittihad Nisaa al-Yaman
AbbreviationYWU
Formation1990
TypeNon-governmental organization
Purposehumanitarianism and activism for women in Yemen
HeadquartersSana'a
Websitehttp://yemeniwomen.org

The Yemeni Women's Union (YWU; Arabic: اتحاد نساء اليمن, romanized: Ittiḥād Nisāʼ al-Yaman) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1990. Its purpose is to promote women's civil rights and to empower women in Yemen. The current chairperson of the Yemeni Women's Union is Fathiye Abdullah.[1]

About

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The YWU is headquartered in Sana'a and has 22 different branch offices and 132 smaller offices throughout Yemen.[2] Each branch offers women microcredit projects, literacy, health care and vocational training programs.[3] Branches have also conducted legal workshops for women on commercial and tax laws.[4] Other workshops have covered amendments to marriage laws and custody rights for women.[5]

There are about thirty-two staff members and ten "elected volunteers" at the executive office in Sana'a.[2] Many YWU branches include men in their outreach, citing that women's problems in Yemen "cannot be resolved without men's support."[6]

The YWU runs shelters with undisclosed locations to protect women who have fled from violent or abusive family situations.[7] The YWU also runs a hotline which allows women to report domestic abuse so that they can be "transferred to a safe house and assigned an attorney."[8]

Literacy and education are also important to the mission of YWU. The organization manages over 10% of all literacy classes in Yemen and helps raise awareness about the importance of education for women.[9]

The YWU also helped establish the country's first detention center run exclusively by women in 2005 and helped release 450 women from police custody in 2004 and 2005.[10] YWU also helped change a law which did not allow women to be released from prison unless they were "collected by a male guardian."[11]

YWU is also active politically and in religious matters. In 2008, when Muslim clerics issued a fatwa against women running for office, YWU's former chairperson, Ramziya al-Iryani, responded stating that the fatwa was "against Islam, against equality between men and women stipulated by the Quran."[12] Another issue YWU has been involved with politically has been on the question of allowing the use and cultivation of qat.[13]

History

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During the unification of North and South Yemen, the women's organizations from both countries were merged. The northern branch had been the Yemeni Women's Association, officially founded in 1965, though it already existed informally under the imamate.[14] In South Yemen the General Union of Yemeni Women (GUYW) was established in 1968, continuing the role of the Arab Women's Club and the Aden Women's Association before independence.[3] The project to merge these groups was supposed to take two months, but instead, it took nearly a year to merge into the Yemeni Women's Union.[15] Some of the difficulties in unifying the groups was due to political differences: the southern branch was Marxist and the northern branch was controlled by women who worked with the Islah Reform Party.[3] It wasn't until 2000 that the political differences between the members of the groups were resolved.[16]

The YWU was led by Amat Al Alim Alsoswa starting before its incorporation, from 1989 to 1991.[17]

In 2013, the combined membership of YWU was estimated at around 4,000 members.[3]

On 26 May 2024, the Southern Transitional Council seized an independent women's shelter run by the YWU in Aden, in what Human Rights Watch called an attempt by the STC to replace independent institutions with STC-affiliated entities. On 23 June, the STC allowed YWU staff to return to their offices, but demanded that they provide half of the building space to the SRC-affiliated South Women's Union, and also demanded that 'Yemen' be removed from the organisation's name and that they only provide support to women from southern Yemen.[18][19]

References

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  1. ^ Al-Mohattwari, Asma (1 March 2015). "Yemeni Women Dream of an Equal, Modern and Stable State". National Yemen. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Yemeni Women's Union". Nakweh. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Talhami, Ghada Hashem (2013). Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 362. ISBN 9780810868588.
  4. ^ Department of State (2006). Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006. United States Government. p. 2236. ISBN 9781437905229. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  5. ^ "YWU, German Embassy Discuss YWU Projects". Arabia 2000. 24 August 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2015 – via Newspaper Source - EBSCO.
  6. ^ Elsanousi, Madga Mohammed (2004). "Strategies and Approaches to Enhance the Roles of Men and Boys in Gender Equality: A Case Study from Yemen". In Ruxton, Sandy (ed.). Gender Equality and Men: Learning from Practice. Oxford: Oxfam GB. pp. 169–170. ISBN 0855985143.
  7. ^ Murray, Rebecca (5 January 2013). "Yemeni Women Struggle to Step Forward". Inter Press Service. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  8. ^ Qaed, Samar (27 May 2013). "Need Help? Hotlines Provide Safe Space for Yemeni Women". Yemen Times. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Yemen Long Battle With Illiteracy". Yemen Post. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  10. ^ Raab, Michaela (November 2012). Ending Violence Against Women: An Oxfam Guide. Oxford: Oxfam International. p. 6. ISBN 9781780772318. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  11. ^ Green, Duncan (2008). From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States Can Change the World. Oxford: Oxfam International. p. 98. ISBN 9780855985936.
  12. ^ "Yemeni Group Slams Fatwa Banning Female MPs". Al Arabiya News. 21 July 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  13. ^ Al-Sakkaf, Nadia (28 August 2014). "Politics of Qat by Peer Gatter: The Long Awaited Conference on Qat - 2002". Yemen Times. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  14. ^ Marina De Regt (2007). Pioneers Or Pawns?: Women Health Workers and the Politics of Development in Yemen. Syracuse University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-8156-3121-7.
  15. ^ Manea, Elham (2011). The Arab State and Women's Rights: The Trap of Authoritarian Governance. New York: Routledge. p. 119. ISBN 9780415617734.
  16. ^ Burrowes, Robert D. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Yemen (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 188. ISBN 9780810855281.
  17. ^ "Amat Al Alim Alsoswa". Center for International Private Enterprise. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Yemen: UAE-Backed Group Seizes Women's Shelter". Human Rights Watch. 18 July 2024. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  19. ^ "The Storming of the Yemeni Women's Union Headquarters in Aden". Yemeni Archive. 16 July 2024. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
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