Women Press Absence: Reasons And Suggestions [Archives:2000/34/Culture]

Jalal Al-Sharaabi
Yemen Times
A decade has elapsed since the declaration of unity and emergence of democracy, associated with freedom of opinion and expression. Numerous newspapers are beingpublished by political, as well as independent parties all of which have made every effort to woo the reader.
More than 70 daily and weekly newspapers are published in Yemen, most of which are controlled by men. A few independent women newspapers have been issued during the last decade, such as Al-Marah (The Woman,) Al-Yamaniah (The Yemeni Woman,) which is published by the National Committee for Women and Adam wa Hawa (Adam & Eve.) However they havent dealt with womens issues as they should.
Local analysts and observers are of the view that control of the state over womens newspapers constitutes the main block on the way of real womens press, while it is attributed by others to cracks in womens groups.
While many women deny that, some of them think that lack of qualified cadre is all that matters.
Recent statements of Minister of Information show an official trend towards encouraging the establishment of non-governmental women press. So far there have been no signs of credibility and sincerity in these pledges. There is an intended official ignorance towards this issue, a number of women say.
satisfying themselves with allocation of a quarter or half a page for womens matters, opposition parties have not been more considerate in this regard. There have been no sign of encouragement to women writers.
It is really a tragedy. Still more tragic is the fact that available womens papers fail to present women as active participants in the political life and development
Local observers indicate that womens share in democracy is little and that many hurdles make them no more than blind tools exploited by parties. A legal observer wonders why women unions and committees have not presented a serious womens press or call for it.
For collection of more information on our topic I met a number of women writers in different press channels. To my astonishment, WE WANT TO LIVE, was the first response I got from one of them before she went off. She was afraid of her position, I thought.
At Saba news agency, the only official news agency in the country, I met Ikram Al-Akouri, editor who said that lack of women- specialized press was attributed to the over all lack of specialized press in general. It is men who control press and it is they who think womens issues are not worthy to be written about, she said.
Asked about whether available women newspapers have demonstrated serious and successful attempts to bring womens issues to light, she said that they tried their best. However, she added that lack of experience prevent the excellent and objective projection of such issues. The only paper controlled by the government suffers lack of support and it does not mirror the real condition of Yemeni women. This is the case of the other two newspapers. The problem is that women newspapers, like others, appeared without concrete studies of womens attitudes, desires, worries that they want the society and the world to read about. Ironically, some people call for women writers to write about womens issues, as if womens issues are confined to women. People should feel that womens issues touch the whole society. Therefore they should not be confined to women with their little experiences. Men should not put them in a challenge, they are required to help, she concluded.
Al-Roiah( The Vision) is the title of one of the women newspaper that emerged in the 1990s; it closed down after a short time owing to lack of funding. Its chief-editor, Huda Al-Hamdani, said Al-Roiah did not focus on only women issues and that the largest part of its staff were men. Existence of a real women press should be associated with real objective and accurate journalism and above all is associated with a sincere official commitment to support it, she said.
Absence of women newspapers is attributed to the attitude of society towards women, she added. All authorities concerned should join efforts in order to get rid of that problem. We pin great hopes on the Minister of Information who always encourage press in general and women writers in particular, she concluded.
The Ministry of Information is not serious in creating womens press, said Samiah Al-Aghbari of( Al-Wahdawi). Women writers are teased, interrogated and even threatened of death. She said that opposition parties do not publish specialized women newspaper due to lack of facilities. Some opposition newspapers ask donators for support in its first pages she added.
Eftikar Al-Qadhi of Al-Thawrah official newspaper referred to lack of women cadre and financial support.
Whether or nor the available women newspapers and magazines in the market touch womens issues, she said that they focused on secondary things such as make up, fashion and outward appearance. I wish to see real press that is concerned of Arab womens rights before what is new in the world of mode, she commented. There must be specialized and qualified cadre to be able to establish women press, she added.
Kawkab Al-Wadee, editorial secretary of the Al-Yamaniah said lack of women newspapers was because of lack of women journalists. Journalism is a very difficult and tiring job that needs devotion and continuous search for information, she said. She added: Our work does not end by leaving our offices. Unfortunately the society still look down upon women working in this field. In addition she said that womens experience in this field was still young. Only three newspapers are there namely, Al-Yamaniah, Adam and Eve, and Al-Marah, all were founded in the 1990s, she explained. Funding is also another stumbling block in the way of establishing more womens newspapers, she said. Women have faced many economic, social, legal and health challenges. I can not say that the newspapers mentioned already tackle such problems boldly and sincerely. Those newspapers are run by individuals who are more keen on and aware of materialistic gains even at the expense of women affairs and concerns.
As far as Al-Yamaniah is concerned, though published by the Women National Committee and supervised by the cabinet, none imposes any kind of limitation on its freedom. It has dealt with many vital issues that are of great concern to women such as violence against women, child labor, necessity of women existence in the security corps, womens rights concerning inheritance, etc., she said.
Unlike others who have spoken to us, she said that it was lack of good readers which was the real problem of womens press. She suggested holding a seminar on press problems in our country to discuss means of improving and developing journalism.
Manal Al-kindi, journalist for Al-Yamaniah newspaper said: Lack of womens newspapers has many reasons such as the general belief that women are unable to hold high positions and make decisions, lack of facilities and inability of colleges to graduate women cadre, etc. She suggested a thorough study on womens issues and means of solving them and realizing the importance of the existence of womens press.
What next?
Womens press remains a controversial issue in opposition and governmental organs. The official authorities should give the issue of womens leadership full attention. Among tens of newspapers only 6 are managed by women. Unfortunately even these newspapers do not tackle womens issues. The problem is there, and the solution can by through the government and opposition parties adoption of women press that is concerned with the many problems of Yemeni women.

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