Progress Amid Resistance

YEMEN 557F The government should outlaw domestic violence and establish a safeand secure mechanism that helps women to file complaints againsttheir abusers. It should build shelters for abused women, establish atelephone hotline for victims of violence, take serious steps to hire andtrain female police officers to deal with women’s cases, and providetraining courses for policemen on this issue.F The government should take active measures to protect minorities andensure their safety. It should establish a legal department to deal withcomplaints from minorities and create a task force that monitors theiraccess to education and health services.F Yemeni NGOs should coordinate their work in highlighting the genderdiscrimination sanctioned by the Personal Status Law, and jointogether in their efforts to foster awareness regarding minorities’ rights,honor crimes, and domestic violence.ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITYWomen’s economic rights and opportunities in Yemen are undermined bysocial barriers as well as deficiencies in the state’s ability to implement andcoordinate its economic development efforts. These obstacles have led to awide gap between officially announced plans and actual conditions.Women’s financial dependence on their male relatives or husbandscontinues due to a combination of cultural and economic factors, andthe gender gap in education remains as large as ever. The government hastaken some positive steps in recent years to protect women from genderbasedemployment discrimination, but they were restricted to Yemenis anddid not extend to noncitizen residents. Women were allowed to enrollin the High Judicial Institute for the first time in 2007, and the CentralSecurity Agency has started to accept female applicants. Despite requirementsmentioned in Yemeni laws, no daycare facilities exist in any publicinstitutions or private companies.No laws prohibit women from owning or having full and independentuse of their land and property, and women technically have full andindependent use of their income and assets. However, patriarchal tribalcustoms, widespread illiteracy, and women’s ignorance of their economicrights have prevented them from exercising these rights in practice. Instead,they often hand over the administration of their property and income totheir male relatives.