Women’s International Day:WNC: We demand for a Ministry for Women [Archives:2005/823/Front Page]

Nadia Al-Saqqaf
Under the auspices of the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Women Mr. Abdulqadir Ba Jamal, the Women's National Committee (WNC) organized a two-day conference in celebration of women's international day on the 8th and 9th of this month.

The aim of the conference was to promote women's movements in Yemen to defend their rights. On behalf of Mr. Ba Jamal, who declined to attend the inauguration. The Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Mr. Abdulkarem al-Arhabi attended and gave an encouraging speech on women's rights and promised his support to women's issues in Yemen emphasizing on girls' education.

Mrs. Hooria, the deputy chair person of the WNC in her welcoming speech narrated some of the achievements so far and stressed the challenges and requirements needed to enhance status of Yemeni women, especially the lack of resources and weak representation in the decision-making bodies. This is why the WNC is calling to be upgraded to a ministry and demanding a quota of 30 per cent for women in all elected and unelected decision-making positions.

Regarding the future activities of the Committee she said, “our activities focus on developing a women's development strategy that is in terms with the exerted efforts to develop the third socio-economic development plan 2006-2010 based on the Millennium Development Goals and which the international community considers as a framework for cooperation and support. And also the equality between women and men in opportunities and services and access to resources which we see as an gate to women's empowerment is a significant issue in the international agendas.”

Ms. Fauzia Noman was congratulated by the WNC in the inauguration for being appointed as deputy of the Girls' Education Sector at the Ministry of Education, and she commented that it was a pleasure to be given this responsibility and this is an encouraging indication that women's rights in Yemen are slowly being achieved.

Detailed report of the celebration to be published next week.
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