Finally efforts for Yemeni women’s rights pay off [Archives:2007/1033/Front Page]

By: Rasha Jurhoom
For Yemen Times
After years of struggle to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in Yemeni laws and practices, Yemeni women development reached an important milestone today. The approval of the legal amendments of clauses which discriminated against women in the Yemeni laws is underway and the Supreme Council for Women has issued a number of decrees in favour of women.

SANA'A, March 13 ) The celebration of women's international day in Yemen couldn't be happier. The amendment of twenty-seven discriminative laws, which have been advocated by the Women National Committee (WNC) – the government machine to promote women's issues – and women groups in Yemen were approved on Monday by the cabinet on its regular meeting and are on their way to approval by the Parliament. It even gets better, the Supreme Council for Women on 12th March 2007, held a meeting in which it decreed a number of regulations to support women's issues in Yemen.

The Supreme Council for Women discussed an analysis of the action plan of WNC for 2006, the Action Plan of WNC for 2007, the evaluation of the National Strategy for Women Development- Gender Strategy. Consequently, it approved a decree on employment of women in the education sector in the governorates and rural areas, the establishment of WNC branches in Say'oun and the valley of Hadramout, the application of the free maternal delivery decree in all governmental health institutions, the approval of the training manual for gender budgeting, and the support of women role in the development process.

The meeting came as the final stop in annual conference WNC held in celebration of Women's International Day under the theme: “Law, an Institutional Protection of Societies”. The two-day event that took place on 10-11 March 2007, under the patronage of His Excellency, Mr Abdul Qader Ba-Jammal, Prime Minister and Head of the Supreme Council for Women and in presence of His Excellency the Minister of Civil Service Mr Khaled Hamoud Al-Sofy.

In the event, participants highlighted the efforts to improve women's conditions by presenting a series of working papers on issues of central value to women's development, such as education, health and economic participation. The working papers were discussed and audience participation and feedback was encouraged. The discussions included evaluation of the women national strategy, report on women status in 2006, women political participation, business women and their role in the society, free delivery and women reproductive health, gender budgeting in education. A number of NGOs also participated by presenting their experiences in enhancing women development.

However, the main issue of focus was legal reforms to eliminate discrimination against women, which coincided with the conformity to the legal amendments by the Ministers Cabinet in their periodical meeting that was held on 5th of March 2007. This represented a huge step in line with women's efforts and their continuous struggle to impose real equality before the law based on Islamic Shari'a and the values of Yemeni constitution aimed at equal citizenship as well as equal rights and obligations for both men and women.

The event was concluded with a vital set of recommendations in the different developmental areas of women advancement. In terms of the implementation of the Woman National Strategy, the WNC called upon the development of new legal and administrative mechanisms to oblige all governmental bodies to mainstream the strategy objectives into their plans through official obligations issued by the Ministers' Cabinet and ministerial decrees to ensure the implementation of the objectives by the different ministries.

In terms of enhancing the governmental mechanisms of women development, the WNC emphasized the importance of upgrading the committee into a specialized ministry for women development as has been done in many other countries. They also stressed the significance of obligating ministries to include women departments in their administrative hierarchies and budget planning to act as executive mechanisms to the implementation of Woman National Strategy. In addition, WNC requested financial support for its governorates branches and the civil society organization that work effectively to enhance women development in urban and rural areas.

In line of women political participation, the WNC accentuated the importance of applying the quota system in the elected and non-elected state bodies and requested the civil society organizations to take initiative in imposing pressure and influence as well as continue their support and advocacy to increase the representation of women in politics. In addition, they emphasized on the representation of women at not less than 15% in the coming Perlman election and adapting an early support to the promotional and qualifying programs to a number of women personalities.

In terms of integrating women in the labor market and enhancing their chances in accessing resources, the WNC highlighted the importance of implementing the policies of the Third Five Year Plan to increase the Women Labor Force in a growth rate of 5% annually, focusing on increasing Women labor force participation at the sectors of education and health in rural areas. Additionally, the obligation of institutions and companies to create child-care centers if they possess more than 50 female employees (mothers); in accordance to the amended labor law No(5) of 2003 was emphasized.

The role of the media in advocating women development issues was also highlighted in terms of efficient coverage to gender issues in both audio and visual media and broadening the scope to present a balanced and positive perception towards women. Additionally, the adaptation programs advocating the dangers of early marriage by civil and governmental organizations to increase awareness and influence public opinion was urged.

In terms of equality in rights and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, the WNC pledged to the Parliament to approve the law amendments that has been confirmed by the Ministers Cabinet, as well as, calling upon the Ministers Cabinet and Parliament to take active measures to complete the necessary procedures to approve the suggested law amendment on the article (18) of the Personal Status Law No (20) for the year 1992 to determine marriage age.

In the scope of health, recommendations were made to extending the free delivery decree between health institutions and spreading the awareness on the decree content among the citizens. In addition, the effective execution of procedures to reducing mortality of mothers in accordance to the Third Five Year Plan Policies was stressed.

In the education field, more schools and education cadre for girls in the primary and high school education were requested specially in rural areas. Increasing the efforts of both governmental and civil society to compact illiteracy and increase the number of the non-illiterate ten times the current number was discussed. The WNC also called upon increasing the expenditures rates on technical education and vocational training, as well as, encouraging the admission of girls into specializations that supply the demand in the labor market. The WNC also called upon an equal opportunity for girls in studying abroad and scholarships to other countries in terms of the scholarship bodies and majors of specialization.

The event was also attended by representatives of international organizations, foreign civil society organizations, governmental bodies, Yemeni civil society organizations, members and heads of WNC branches, in addition, to correspondents of the press, news agencies, satellite channels and a number of honored guests.
——
[archive-e:1033-v:14-y:2007-d:2007-03-15-p:front]