SAVE Yemen
Yemen is a presidential, representative, democratic, predominantly Muslim republic on the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen’s nominally democratic government exerts little pressure on the rural areas, such that tribal confederations act nearly autonomously and can work with al Qaeda and other operatives independently. Politically dominated by tribal chiefs and economically dependent on rapidly dwindling oil reserves, Yemen’s fragile democracy stands under threat by corruption and the growing strength of fundamental Islamist groups.
Yemeni women do not have access to most of their economic, social, and cultural rights and still face many challenges in exercising their full political and civil rights. Women are vastly underrepresented in the government and in the labor field, and only 8.2 percent of women report paid employment. Women also have an extremely low literacy rate (28.2%), and successive amendments to the 1990 unification constitution (which united the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic) have increasingly posited their role as secondary to men’s.
Women’s role within the family is highly valued, and tradition restricts their roles to the private sphere. As such, Yemeni women also have the opportunity to pass values of peace and tolerance on to their children. Concerning the recent uptick in terrorist activities, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Yemen's foreign minister, says "young people realize that extremists are damaging inward investment and job creation." Women without Borders will provide women with the tools to challenge extremist thinking through critical debate, and to mobilize the youth to capitalize on their recognition of the futility of extremist activities to create an atmosphere for positive change.
