Rural Yemeni women seek rights [Archives:2007/1076/Reportage]
August 13 2007
 |
[email protected]
Inheritance, education and work are rights of which women in rural areas are deprived due to tribal norms that govern the communities in which they live.
When talking about the rights of rural Yemeni women, the right to inheritance emerges first as one of the most striking rights of which this group of women is deprived, despite it being stipulated in both religious and state law.
Umm Mohsen Hatem, 65, complained, “My father died 15 years ago and I want to take my fortune and give it to my sons and daughters before I die but my brothers refused to give it to me and I don't have money to take them to the court.”
Women are deprived of receiving inheritance under many pretexts. According to tribal norms, it's a shame on the woman and her family to ask for her share of wealth. Asking indicates that the woman is disobedient and relations between her and her family are fragile. “For us it's shameful that the woman asks for her fortune. This means that she doesn't respect her family and they have stopped visiting her. This is also an indication that the relation between the woman and her family has become delicate and fragile. For example they stopped visiting her and helping her in bad circumstances,” tribesman Mahmoud Abdul Hameed revealed.
In most rural areas, families strive to hold onto their wealth, especially land. Male family members try to buy land from females or, if they can, withhold land altogether. “Like all the tribal families, we don't accept that our land goes to any other people even if they are our relatives. We can't bear that someone comes from outside the family and works in our land even if he is our nephew or brother-in-law,” 35-year-old tribesman Yahia Mohsen Al-Nehmi explained.
Some people pointed out that only a few families deprive women of their wealth. “I think that not all families deprive their women from inheritance. Many families give their women their fortunes though it is sometimes via courts. Sometimes you find that the family is ready to submit the woman her fortune but the woman herself does not ask for her fortune in order not to offend her brothers,” 65-year-old sheikh Ali Naser stated.
Others revealed that some families exploit the kindness and politeness of women by not giving them their inheritance. “We are four sisters and our father died 11 years ago and until now we haven't had our fortunes yet. We respect our brothers because they are good with us and we don't want others to be happy that we took our fortunes from our brothers. So, we don't ask for our fortunes but I think that we will do that someday,” 55-year-old Fatima Ali stated.
Some rural residents think that the cost incurred by a woman's male relatives in supporting her should be taken from her inheritance. Consequently, if a woman is given her fortune, her male relatives will not visit her anymore and will not support her in any ordeal.
Karemah Obaid, 46, stated, “My brothers used to visit me from time to time but when I took my fortune they stopped visiting me and helping me except for one of them. They think that everything they give me should be taken from my fortune and forget that God asks people to visit relatives for the sake of Him.”
Ateqah Ahmed, 42, shared, “I asked my brothers many times to give me my fortune but they refused. That happened before seven years and nine years after the death of my father. When my brothers found that I'm determined to take my fortune they agreed to give me only my fortune in land on a condition that they would give the lands they want which were the deserted ones. Certainly I disagreed. Then I went to the court and it gave it to me but [only] after I spent so much money.”
One of the tricks that tribesmen use in order to keep the good lands from women is to endow the most fertile land to one's sons. “When part of the land is endowed for the sons only it means the sons only inherit this land and only the sons of these sons can inherit this land and not the daughters and the same process from [one] generation to another,” Hatem Monaser, a tribe sub-leader, explained.
But this doesn't mean that all tribal families conduct their affairs in the same manner. Many families give women their inheritance without any dispute.
Ahmed Hassan Al-Thari, 47, mentioned, “When my father died six years ago, we gave our sisters their inheritance two months after the death of my father and without any problems or any deception.”
But the right of inheritance is not the only right taken from women in rural areas. Education, which is one of the fundamentals of the development of any society is another right robbed from rural Yemeni women. The majority of women in rural areas are illiterate, despite efforts and support that the state offers to develop education in rural areas. It is known that there are hundreds of schools in rural areas and thousands of female students attend these schools, but not all of them complete their primary education.
Reasons for the lack of female education in rural areas vary. For one, tribal customs deem it shameful for women to be more educated or to attain a higher position than men. So, instead of competing with women in the field of education, many tribesmen deprive women from attending primary schools and universities. Ahmed Najji Moqbel, 34, clarified, “It is known for all that most of men in rural areas work in the farms and many of them leave school early and go to the agricultural farms to help their fathers in work. Consequently, if the woman goes to school, she will learn and will be better than the man and there the disaster of the man will start. Here youth do not care so much about the education of women because in their point of view she is there only to follow men.”
Ahlam Obaad Mansour, 23, shared, “I used to go to school and I was one of the first-ranking students in the school. I was aspiring to be a teacher and my father supported me but after the death of my father my brothers asked me to stop going to school under the pretext that what I studied is enough to make me able to read and write.”
Mona Saleh, 20, commented, “I lived big about 10 years of my life in my village and I used to be always the first rank in the school and when I came to Sana'a I continued my studies and I was always one of the first ranking students in the school. When I finished secondary school I was the eighth ranking student at the level of the whole republic and I had a scholarship to Jordan and then to Algeria but my two brothers who left school early and live now in the village refused strongly the scholarship.”
As an old norm in rural areas it is sufficient for a woman to learn how to read and write, with particular focus on memorizing some short verses from the Holy Qur'an. Once she has accomplished this she is discouraged from exploring other subjects, such as math, geography, and other sciences.
Tribesman Ahmed Naser Al-Najdi, 55, mentioned, “I think that the best place for the woman is her house and it is enough for her to learn how to read and write. If she studies and goes to the university she will start asking for a job and consequently she will neglect her duties towards her husband and children.”
Rural Yemeni women are also a key source of labor on family farms. Tribesman Najeeb Al-Jamal, 29, stated, “For my family, we don't allow the girl to go to school because we need her for farm work. We have much work in farms and we divide our women into two groups. The group that goes to the farm today does not go tomorrow and the one who has the housework today will go tomorrow to the farm. But this doesn't mean that we deprive them of education totally. We let them go to school when they are young and when they become able to bear responsibility for the work, we ask them to stop going to school.”
Outside of tribal norms, other obstacles to female obtainment of education are lack of security and poverty.
Hammed Ali, 45, a farmer, explained, “I have two daughters and one boy but the boy is the youngest and all the three are very clever and the school is so far. So, I let the girls study until grade eight and then I asked them to stop because I can neither take them to the school every day nor let them go to school alone. Now I teach them myself at home.”
Sheikh Abdul Kareem Al-Hadda, 36, mentioned, “I can admit that many people in the rural areas don't allow their daughters and sisters to go to school but this doesn't mean that all people have the same mentality. Many other people send their daughters and sisters to schools but in my opinion the most striking obstacle that restrains people from sending women to school is poverty. It is known that people in the rural areas always have many sons and daughters and due to poverty, people can't send all their kids to school. So, they can with difficulty send boys only and that's why many people don't send women to school.”
There is controversy over the right of women to work. According to people in rural areas, women share the workload with men and therefore are not deprived of their right to work. However, many specialists think women in rural areas do not have the same freedom when it comes to work as their urban peers.
Montaser Al-Zubairi, 52, a tribe sub-leader stated, “I can assure that women in rural areas perform her right of work completely and no one deprives her from this right. On the contrary, if you go to any village you will find that men and women are working together in the farm. A woman is the sister, daughter and mother of a man and I don't want anybody to think that we oppress her. Don't believe the slogans of westerners. They oppress and tamper with women more than any other people. We maintain and defend her with our souls.”
However, according to Eman Mobarak, a 28-year-old housewife, women are restricted to certain types of work. Mobarak expressed, “The women in rural areas do not have the chance to select the work they want. For example, many girls, especially those who are still in school, aspire to be teachers, nurses or even doctors but most of them know in advance that they will not have the chance to achieve their ambitions. They know that their fate is to the kitchen and the farm. So, how can some people say that the women in rural areas perform this right completely? It is called a 'right,' which means that I can have the decision freely and without any pressure from anyone, whoever he is.”
Badr Al-Deen Al-Jabari, a 24-year-old soldier, commented, “Indeed, women in rural areas perform their rights completely and the international conventions didn't specify the nature of the work that women should have. It isn't necessary that all women should work as teachers and doctors to perform their right completely. In any country you find doctors, nurses, engineers, farmers and cleaners but the problem is that here we don't understand our rights well. You can't expect all women in rural areas to be doctors and teachers only.”
——
[archive-e:1076-v:15-y:2007-d:2007-08-13-p:report]
