The Yemeni Woman For Leading Posts [Archives:2000/48/Focus]

Imad Al Saqqaf,
Taiz Bureau Chief
Before the revolution, the Yemeni woman was bound by fetters of illiteracy, poverty, backward customs and traditions. She suffered from illiteracy for a long time but it was only two decades since she started joining the educational and political fields. Although she took big steps in the educational field, the number of women who join education is still small for 21,2% of them join secondary education, 37,8% primary education and 17,5% universally education.
Statistics indicate that only 0,7% of women are in the Parliament due to the non-participation of women in elections. Two women got parliamentary posts in the 1993 elections: Mona Ba Sharahil, Hadramaut independent, and Khawla Sharaf, Aden YSP. Two hundred and sixteen women stood as candidates for the 1997 elections and only two of them got parliamentary posts: Dr. Oras Sultan Nagi and Mrs. Oloof Ba Khobaira, Aden GCP. These tiny numbers are, perhaps, due to the social customs and traditions that deny the woman of holding any leading posts or participation in the political life.
Women still fear political work and their participation do not exceed 6%. Reports say that in governmental posts only 95 women work as general manager opposite 100,000 men holding the same post. There are only two women holding the posts of assistant deputy minister and only one woman occupying the post of ambassador in Holland: Amat Al-Aleem Al-Suswa.
In the media there are many women who work as journalists and there are two newspapers edited and published by women: Al-Maraah and Al-Yamaniah. That narrow view of women, who takes up such a tiring career and other career related to arts, literature, and philosophy, has started to disappear.
In the Arab Countries women have set off, steadily, working in the media career. The Egyptian TV is directed successfully by Suhaya Al-Atrabi. Another woman is the chief editor of a daily English political newspaper in Jordan. Dr. Rana Al-Khatib is Head of the Jordanian Writers Union. Engineer Nadia Al-Saqqaf is the Chief Editor of Yemen Times. This is something that makes the Yemeni woman proud that she has taken such a leading role in the society. She has proved that she is a success in her career and it is time the society encouraged her to participate in the political, economic, social life and media. Today, the Yemeni woman is a deputy minister, a parliament member, a judge, an ambassador and a chief editor and we hope she becomes a general manager, a minister or prime minister and we hope she enjoys all her rights in all fields.

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