AL-Anood is a young Yemeni woman aged 19 who encountered early enforced marriage to a man who wanted to marry her sister in the first place. Because her sister refused to marry him, he married AL-Anood and treated her in a very bad way, he used to beat and insult her. After divorcing, he kept threatening Al-Anood and endangering her, and her sister’s life. Last October he marched to her house and poured acid on her face and body causing burns to her eyes, face, and different parts of her little body.
Although this horrible case happened in October 2020, it was published in the media in February 2021. For more than two months, no one ever knew about the issue. After the case was published to media outlets and social media, many people showed great empathy with her and requested maximum punishment on him. This incident came after realizing a couple of similar incidents for gender-based violence that happened in Al-Mukalla lately. Obviously, and throughout reviewing the comments on facebook’s different pages that posted this accident, many commenters stated that AL-Anood story is only a sample or one story, there are hundreds of “ Alnoods” who are treated similarly or worse but their stories are unknown. Moreover, not all commenters showed empathy or advocated for justice, others were seeking excuses for the perpetrator or balming AL-Anood.
“ some women deserve to burn, they have loud voices and want to work in NGOs”, “ They lack minds and their proper place in the kitchen,” said one of the commenters
In a country like Yemen, where the majority of the demographic structure is tribal, women issues and cases are still not revealed. According to the world meter, the current population of Yemen exceeds 30 million with 49% women. Although women comprise approximately half of the Yemeni population, they still don’t enjoy the rights equally as men. Education in Yemen is compulsory to all Yemeni citizens, however, many girls in the rural and tribal areas can’t access education because of many reasons; such as, early marriage, unavailability of female teachers, location of schools, or being responsible for other daily tasks. In the main cities like Sana’a, Aden, and Taiz, girls are luckier than those in the rural and tribal areas, they enjoy systematic education with a general tendency towards encouraging girls' education. However, knowledge of rights, freedoms, and laws is still low among the majority of Yemeni citizens, including men of course. Up to 70 percent of rural women are illiterate, according to the UNDP, which means that their lack of access to broadcast media compounds their inability to exercise their full rights to information. Even though women are not prevented by law from accessing information, their day-to-day lives make it all but impossible (Yemen:an Analysis of Women in the Media:2009)
Controlled by strict masculinity traditions, lack of information on possible protection laws, and fear of stigma, many women stay silent when they are violated or subjected to violence. Harassment or sexual abuse are among the most sensitive issues that women are afraid to report or appear in media. women prefer to endure these forms of violations rather than reporting them because they fear of stigma, family denial, negative social implications. On the other hand, the female journalists avoid publishing or covering any issues related to gender, GBV, sexual abuse or any other issues that may provoke the authorities or the communities and will later result in causing terrible to the journalists or their families.
Facebook became the most used social media platform in Yemen, in February 2019, there were more than 2 million Facebook users with 86 % men. The majority of the female facebook users use fake names and fake profile pictures. The community and social norms still banning to publish portraits for females that may endanger their lives. Additionally, the FB users attack in comments, the pictures of the couples or girls, and sometimes the picture,s of girls’ hands. On Valentine’s day February 14th, some couples in Taiz shared their pictures on Facebook while carrying red roses. As a result of that, a bullying campaign attacked them and attacked the girls in particular, where the commenters criticized the act and how the couples looked.
According to the Country Assessment on Violence against Women survey “Violence Against Women VAW is rarely addressed in media policies, strategies, and programs. The media often avoids addressing such issues, considering them sensitive. Women issues, including violence, are addressed in the Population Information and Communication program, funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and implemented by the Ministry of Information, Ministry of Public Health and Population, and National Population Council. Also, the media does not help overcome the discriminating circumstances; rather it deepens the stereotyped pattern of women. Furthermore, the media is not conveying repeated message of deep resolve to curb VAW. In fact, the media only covers occasional events on women's issues, such as International Women Day on 8 March or events implemented by women organizations sporadically. Apart from that, programs on combating VAW are not an integral part of media strategies and programs”.
After more than six years of ongoing conflict, the roles of Yemeni women have changed dramatically. When the male members of the family either went for fighting or seek work opportunities, women became the Head of household and entitled to indoor and outdoor tasks. Her suffering is greater especially when the male members die, are injured, detained, or disappeared. The media poorly reflect this suffering or present it to the public. Not only because the media channels, broadcasts, and newspapers are geared to serve the interest of the specific conflicting party, but also the lack of professional media workers who can truly reflect women’s issues. Mostly, when a women's case is published in the media outlets, the empathy of the audience will depend on whether or not this media outlet is consistent with their interest, otherwise, they wouldn’t compose any feeling. Lack of objectivity in presenting women's cases during the conflict, or using women's tragedies for donating purposes are other issues that made the audience less interested in following these issues.
Media and women in Yemen are two related issues, yet not very much tied to each other. Women, the community, media outlets, and media workers should have a better understanding of the rights and laws to create greater influence and be more objective. In addition,
- The school curriculum should raise the students'’ awareness on their rights and duties.
- Media workers should receive intensive training on reporting, objectivity.
- Media outlets should send positive messages about women
- Women’s suffering shouldn’t be misused or misreported.
- protection of journalists laws should be activated.
References:
- Country Assessment on Violence against Women YEMEN “Country_Assessment_on_Violence_against_Women_August_2_2010.pdf”
- Yemen:an Analysis of Women in the Media 2009
Microsoft Word - 09 03 06 Yemen.doc (refworld.org)
- Facebook users in Yemen - February 2019 | NapoleonCat
Although this horrible case happened in October 2020, it was published in the media in February 2021. For more than two months, no one ever knew about the issue. After the case was published to media outlets and social media, many people showed great empathy with her and requested maximum punishment on him. This incident came after realizing a couple of similar incidents for gender-based violence that happened in Al-Mukalla lately. Obviously, and throughout reviewing the comments on facebook’s different pages that posted this accident, many commenters stated that AL-Anood story is only a sample or one story, there are hundreds of “ Alnoods” who are treated similarly or worse but their stories are unknown. Moreover, not all commenters showed empathy or advocated for justice, others were seeking excuses for the perpetrator or balming AL-Anood.
“ some women deserve to burn, they have loud voices and want to work in NGOs”, “ They lack minds and their proper place in the kitchen,” said one of the commenters
In a country like Yemen, where the majority of the demographic structure is tribal, women issues and cases are still not revealed. According to the world meter, the current population of Yemen exceeds 30 million with 49% women. Although women comprise approximately half of the Yemeni population, they still don’t enjoy the rights equally as men. Education in Yemen is compulsory to all Yemeni citizens, however, many girls in the rural and tribal areas can’t access education because of many reasons; such as, early marriage, unavailability of female teachers, location of schools, or being responsible for other daily tasks. In the main cities like Sana’a, Aden, and Taiz, girls are luckier than those in the rural and tribal areas, they enjoy systematic education with a general tendency towards encouraging girls' education. However, knowledge of rights, freedoms, and laws is still low among the majority of Yemeni citizens, including men of course. Up to 70 percent of rural women are illiterate, according to the UNDP, which means that their lack of access to broadcast media compounds their inability to exercise their full rights to information. Even though women are not prevented by law from accessing information, their day-to-day lives make it all but impossible (Yemen:an Analysis of Women in the Media:2009)
Controlled by strict masculinity traditions, lack of information on possible protection laws, and fear of stigma, many women stay silent when they are violated or subjected to violence. Harassment or sexual abuse are among the most sensitive issues that women are afraid to report or appear in media. women prefer to endure these forms of violations rather than reporting them because they fear of stigma, family denial, negative social implications. On the other hand, the female journalists avoid publishing or covering any issues related to gender, GBV, sexual abuse or any other issues that may provoke the authorities or the communities and will later result in causing terrible to the journalists or their families.
Facebook became the most used social media platform in Yemen, in February 2019, there were more than 2 million Facebook users with 86 % men. The majority of the female facebook users use fake names and fake profile pictures. The community and social norms still banning to publish portraits for females that may endanger their lives. Additionally, the FB users attack in comments, the pictures of the couples or girls, and sometimes the picture,s of girls’ hands. On Valentine’s day February 14th, some couples in Taiz shared their pictures on Facebook while carrying red roses. As a result of that, a bullying campaign attacked them and attacked the girls in particular, where the commenters criticized the act and how the couples looked.
According to the Country Assessment on Violence against Women survey “Violence Against Women VAW is rarely addressed in media policies, strategies, and programs. The media often avoids addressing such issues, considering them sensitive. Women issues, including violence, are addressed in the Population Information and Communication program, funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and implemented by the Ministry of Information, Ministry of Public Health and Population, and National Population Council. Also, the media does not help overcome the discriminating circumstances; rather it deepens the stereotyped pattern of women. Furthermore, the media is not conveying repeated message of deep resolve to curb VAW. In fact, the media only covers occasional events on women's issues, such as International Women Day on 8 March or events implemented by women organizations sporadically. Apart from that, programs on combating VAW are not an integral part of media strategies and programs”.
After more than six years of ongoing conflict, the roles of Yemeni women have changed dramatically. When the male members of the family either went for fighting or seek work opportunities, women became the Head of household and entitled to indoor and outdoor tasks. Her suffering is greater especially when the male members die, are injured, detained, or disappeared. The media poorly reflect this suffering or present it to the public. Not only because the media channels, broadcasts, and newspapers are geared to serve the interest of the specific conflicting party, but also the lack of professional media workers who can truly reflect women’s issues. Mostly, when a women's case is published in the media outlets, the empathy of the audience will depend on whether or not this media outlet is consistent with their interest, otherwise, they wouldn’t compose any feeling. Lack of objectivity in presenting women's cases during the conflict, or using women's tragedies for donating purposes are other issues that made the audience less interested in following these issues.
Media and women in Yemen are two related issues, yet not very much tied to each other. Women, the community, media outlets, and media workers should have a better understanding of the rights and laws to create greater influence and be more objective. In addition,
- The school curriculum should raise the students'’ awareness on their rights and duties.
- Media workers should receive intensive training on reporting, objectivity.
- Media outlets should send positive messages about women
- Women’s suffering shouldn’t be misused or misreported.
- protection of journalists laws should be activated.
References:
- Country Assessment on Violence against Women YEMEN “Country_Assessment_on_Violence_against_Women_August_2_2010.pdf”
- Yemen:an Analysis of Women in the Media 2009
Microsoft Word - 09 03 06 Yemen.doc (refworld.org)
- Facebook users in Yemen - February 2019 | NapoleonCat