Haneen Al-Wahsh – Women in Development and Peace
Yemen is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe deemed the worst in the world by the international community. As the armed conflict intensifies, the humanitarian disaster and the deteriorating living conditions have cast a shadow on women, making them one of the most affected groups. Yemen has consistently ranked as the worst place for women to work since 2017, according to a recent UN report.
Yemeni women are engaged in a bitter struggle for political and economic empowerment and to secure their rightful place in both the public and private sectors. Estimates suggest that women’s presence in the private sector is making relative progress, particularly within the context of civil society activities and projects, many of which are based on gender equality, granting women genuine representation at various levels. However, statistics on women’s representation in the public sector are absent due to various reasons, varying from one geographical area to another, stemming from societal factors related to customs and traditions.
Women’s representation in the public sector remains meager and at its lowest in the governorates of Taiz and Sana’a. While Aden has achieved relative progress, this fluctuation is due to the absence of official estimates, making it difficult to adopt methodological and research frameworks when studying the subject of this report.
Continuous Improvement
As part of our research for this report, we visited several ministries’ offices and relied on observation and personal interviews to gather information. We were struck by the contrasting levels of women’s representation compared to our previous visit two years ago, conducted as part of our research on the same topic.
At the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the number of female employees is strikingly higher than male employees. Human Resources records indicate that the number of women working in the ministry reaches 65, a record number compared to 40 male employees.
Women represent 30% of the Ministry of Transport’s staff, reaching 41% in legal affairs, marking a noticeable improvement from the past two years. They hold regular positions (non-leadership) in most institutions, while their representation is at its lowest in the Ministries of Interior, Defense, and the governorates’ local authorities.
A responsible source at the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that the government is prioritizing a program for women’s inclusion in the public sector and enhancing women’s political participation opportunities. However, significant challenges are hindering progress, including the scarcity of international resources and the lack of operating budgets for most sectors.
He added: “New presidential decrees mandate reviewing government employee files, creating a list of those holding dual jobs, and obligating them to resolve their situations and choose one job. This means creating space for hiring new employees, with women receiving the majority of government jobs.”
Previously, several decisions were issued to regulate women’s status in the judiciary. These decisions enhanced women’s presence by awarding them leadership positions in the country’s Supreme Authority, as announced by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba).
A Broken Equation
While the government announces new efforts to involve women in the official workforce, various problems working women in the formal sector previously reported, remain unresolved. Many women shared these concerns with us. Working women in various government ministries and institutions complain about low wages and the lack of job security.
Most of them have been hired as contractors after a large segment of men turned to private work in search of higher income sources to address the challenges of the economic collapse and its impact on the living expenses of their families.
Ilham Al-Fadhli, the translation manager at the Ministry of Human Rights, says that she has been working for years on a monthly salary of no more than 40,000 Yemeni riyals, which is equivalent to $20, a salary that many men would reject according to her belief.
She attributes the increase in women’s representation compared to the past to their acceptance of work under any circumstances and for meager financial compensation.
She confirms that women’s presence in various government and private facilities is limited to regular jobs, while men occupy leadership positions, and women remain outside the boundaries of the career advancement ladder, a situation that Al-Fadhli described as a “broken equation.”
Monopolizing Administrative Positions
The statistics we obtained indicate an increase in women’s representation in the government sector, which has been steadily rising in recent years, albeit slowly, facing male monopolization of leadership positions. This is confirmed by Intisar Al-Jifri, the director of the girls’ education and training sector at the Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training. Al-Jifri expresses her regret about this, saying that the number of women in senior administrative positions is small compared to men, reflecting a condescending view of women’s skills and leadership capabilities.
She affirms that current circumstances and the lack of operating expenses have halted many programs and plans for training working women in the government sector, as well as opportunities for them to travel abroad for training and exchange experiences.
The confinement of women to lower-level jobs reduces opportunities for capacity building and diversifying experience, which has become disheartening for many, like Dr. Muna Al-Amri. She says, “I have a PhD and have been working as a university professor for ten years, managed by people who are less qualified than me in terms of academic degree or experience. They got their leadership positions through connections overnight, simply because they are men.
It’s been frustrating for me and many other women, and it’s driven some of my colleagues to quit their government jobs and go back home to take care of their kids.
Intisar Al-Jifri confirms that efforts to strengthen women’s presence in government work are facing the challenge of low operating expenses, forcing women into a constant struggle between work and family responsibilities. This is due to the country’s economic collapse and the high cost of living.
Salary Cuts and the Inevitability of Layoffs
The situation is even more complicated in some Yemeni governorates. The suspension of salaries for government employees has forced thousands of women to leave their jobs and join the private sector, while government representation remains a male monopoly.
Asma Al-Du’ais (pseudonym) says she moved to work at a private school for a small salary. Although it was a tough choice, it’s better than working at a government school with no salary at all, as she explains.
Her frequent absence from her government job led to her being laid off. She was fired from her public job after being replaced by a high school graduate, as she describes it. He works without pay, lured by promises of a permanent job; that is, being given a position in the education sector.
Asma emphasizes that the salary cuts for government employees threaten to wipe out the already small female presence in the public sector. Meanwhile, the dominance of men is increasing because they have more free time to engage in private work. Women are deprived of this opportunity because of their family duties and responsibilities at home.
The armed conflict has created opportunities for men to have multiple jobs. Asma says that most of her male colleagues only show up at school to sign the attendance sheet and then leave to do their other jobs in the military, getting paid regularly. This is a blatant violation of the employment law and civil service regulations.
Asma believes that the only way to understand the situation is that “men will dominate the government sector, while opportunities for women will dwindle and almost disappear.”