Progress Amid Resistance

562 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAforces to implement a technical cooperation project entitled “PromotingDecent Work and Gender Equality in Yemen” (2004–08), with financialsupport from the government of the Netherlands. The project focused onen hancing the capacities of MOSAL and other institutions in coordinatingthe implementation of the national strategy on women’s employment.It encouraged positive perceptions of female employees among policymakers,employers, workers, media, and other stakeholders. 39RecommendationsF The government should establish a mechanism that would allow womento file complaints regarding denial of their inheritance. It should establisha section in the court system that specifically deals with femaleinheritance denials and provide it with the necessary resources to remedythis problem.F NGOs should conduct awareness campaigns in rural areas on women’sinheritance rights and establish voluntary legal advice centers that canadvise women on how to fully realize their inheritance rights.F Maternity leave should be increased to a minimum of three months atfull pay.F The government should enforce the requirement that public and privatesectors provide daycare for young children in their facilities. Itshould allocate the necessary financial resources in its yearly budget tosuch facilities in the public sector, and impose financial penalties onprivate institutions that fail to comply with the law.F The government should promulgate laws that criminalize sexual ha -rass ment and discrimination, and establish a mechanism, such as alegal department or a telephone hotline, that will allow women to filegender-based discrimination and sexual harassment complaints.F The government should implement its education and antipoverty policiesand take active measures to eliminate the gap between men andwomen in these areas.POLITICAL RIGHTS AND CIVIC VOICEYemeni women have enjoyed political rights to varying degrees for severaldecades. Those from South Yemen gained full political rights under the1970 constitution, while those from North Yemen were able to vote andrun for office in the country’s first local elections in 1983. 40 In 2006, for