Women in Development and Peace – Alia Mohammed
Yemeni women are one of the most effective elements in society in various fields. Enhancing their political and diplomatic participation and supporting them is essential for achieving gender equality, ensuring women’s representation in all fields, and benefiting from their expertise and ability to address various issues.
In Yemen, women encounter many obstacles on their way to effective participation in the political and diplomatic fields. In light of the prevailing societal culture, norms, and traditions, women’s opportunities to reach high positions and achieve fair representation in decision-making remain limited. To understand the importance of their role in this field and enhance it, several civil society organizations have emerged that work to support women and empower them to play their role effectively as an important part and a key factor in society. This report examines the role of some of those leading organizations in empowering women.
Effective CSOs in Promoting Women’s Role
Over the past years, CSOs have been a turning point in building the infrastructure for development and social change in the country. They have provided many programs that have contributed to supporting and empowering women diplomats in Yemen by providing them with the necessary support and training to enhance their participation in diplomatic work and their positive impact on societies.
In 2017, Yemen was ranked at the bottom of the 2017 Gender Gap Index (144 out of 144 countries). Against this backdrop, UN Women in Yemen sought, and worked with its CSOs partners, to address issues related to gender inequality. It responded to the urgent needs of women and girls, most notably by mainstreaming gender in humanitarian response through providing capacity-building support to leaders, networks, civil society, and UN agencies on mainstreaming gender in humanitarian programming. It also provided programs that enhance women’s leadership and their inclusion in peace processes.
One prominent example of Yemeni CSOs’ focus on enhancing women’s diplomatic role is the “Step of Peace, Cohort 1” project implemented by the Young Leadership Development Foundation, in partnership with CARE International in Yemen, from June 2016 to December 2018. The project targeted a number of CSOs and local and community leaders, training approximately 128 young men and women (70 per cent female) on topics related to peacebuilding, community engagement, advocacy and filmmaking.
From October to November 2020, the Young Leadership Development Foundation implemented the YAC project, in partnership with UN Women, which aimed to support the effective participation of Yemeni women in peace processes and to influence decisions that affect their lives.
On another front, the Foundation called for women’s membership and leadership in government, both in local councils and national parties. Its efforts, with the endorsement of six Yemeni political parties, resulted in boosting women’s membership in these parties, encouraging women leaders to champion women’s rights on their parties’ agendas, and working to change their bylaws accordingly.
Marib Girls Foundation, a leading women’s organization working in the area of peace, has, for its part, provided a programme that aims to enhance the participation of women and youth in peacebuilding and social development. It includes more than 30 “peace ambassadors” from different districts of Marib, who have resolved more than 30 cases since the beginning of 2020.
Yemeni CSOs’ role has not stopped there. A number of organizations have gone even further, under the slogan “Our strength, our struggle, our efforts”. For example, Wogood for Human Security Foundation, in cooperation with international donors, implemented a comprehensive feminist summit in 2023, which discussed all issues related to women in society, including political and diplomatic aspects.
With the participation of more than 200 women, including influential women leaders, representatives of local and international women’s and community organizations, Yemeni and Arab women diplomats, and ambassadors from European countries, the fifth’s feminist summit project aims to strengthen the peace dialogue in Yemen among all parties, discuss the political situation in Yemen, the issue of violations and levels of violence against women and societal responses, how to provide the necessary support for women in the political and diplomatic fields, and work together to achieve transitional justice and women’s access to leadership positions.
In March 2019, UN Women formed a group called the “Feminist Group of Nine”. The group included the Yemeni Women Pact for Peace and Security, the Yemeni Feminist Summit, Peace and Relief Partners, the Marib Girls Foundation – currently represented in the group by the Women Peacemakers -, Youth Leadership Development Foundation, Southern Women for Peace, Women’s Voices of Peace Network, Women for Yemen Network and the Feminist Solidarity Network, which was replaced by Wa3i Youth Platform after it withdrew.
These entities called for the promotion of peace and the participation of women in peace negotiations, by making their voices heard on international platforms. These alliances aimed to create feminist solidarity against gender-based violence and support community protection and capacity-building programs.
In this context, the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen and UN Women renewed their commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Under the title Stronger Together “, the meaningful participation of Yemeni women in peacebuilding was enhanced, with the participation of more than fifty representatives of Yemeni women’s organizations, mediation support organizations, Track II partners, and diplomatic missions. This was stated in the joint press release issued by UN Women and the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen in 2022.
Impact of the Role of CSOs
During an online knowledge-sharing session in 2023, the United Nations Development Program emphasized the crucial role of civil society in promoting gender equality and establishing sustainable peace and security. The session brought together representatives from various organizations, including the United Nations Development Program in Yemen, the Monash University Gender, Peace and Security Research Center, the Australian Civil Society Coalition on Women, Peace and Security, and the Center for Women’s Studies and Training at the University of Aden. The participants engaged in fruitful discussions, sharing their experiences and strategies for advancing the agenda of women, peace, and security.
The participants stressed the positive and vital role of civil society as a catalyst for effective action on women, peace and security, and affirmed that CSOs in Yemen play pivotal roles in various aspects that concern society, the most important of which is building the capacities of human rights defenders, and facilitating dialogues and partnerships that call for the empowerment of women in decision-making.
Many stakeholders confirmed that organizations have succeeded in achieving tangible results in supporting women’s rights, especially in the political and diplomatic fields, by working to form feminist networks and alliances that seek to defend women’s rights and enhance their participation in public life, and to raise awareness of women’s rights through holding many conferences, seminars and workshops to promote a culture of gender equality, in addition to supporting women’s participation in diplomatic work by providing the necessary training and qualification, and implementing training programs in various fields such as diplomacy, public relations and communications, with the aim of developing women’s skills and enhancing their capabilities.
In research reports by CSOs in Yemen related to women’s issues and analyzing their challenges, they provided the necessary support, guidance and direction for Yemeni women in the field of promoting gender awareness and achieving gender equality in Yemeni society.
More work is still needed to ensure the full empowerment of Yemeni women in the field of diplomatic work, despite the efforts of CSOs that represent an important step in the right direction.
