In this episode, journalist Alexandra Sandels reflects on the experiences of four women in the Arab region of taboos associated with women and freedom. Their stories are among the 15 documented in the oral history collection ‘Taboos & Society’ produced by Sharq.Org.
Episode 1 Transcript
(duration: 8:44 mins)
Original script & narration in English by Alexandra Sandels
Soundbites (not transcribed) included in the original Arabic
// soundbite from interview with Bouthaina //
As the bus creaks to a halt at one of the many checkpoints Bouthaina has to pass to visit her family members in north Yemen, she is asked by militia members manning the checkpoint to step out of the bus. Where is your mahram, your male guardian, why are you traveling alone? they ask Bouthaina, a civil society activist in her 30s, with stern voices. Bring your male guardian here to pick you up, the vigilantes insist during the questioning which could take up to an hour as the bus full of families sits on the road waiting, Bothaina explains. Nine years into Yemen’s civil war, women in Yemen are faced with huge difficulties and challenges. One of them is severely restricted movement and limited mobility. Due to the conflict, explains Bouthaina who lives in south Yemen, checkpoints manned by armed groups have popped up everywhere. To visit her family members in a northern Yemeni governorate, Bouthaina explains having to go through dozens of checkpoints, making the trip last an additional six hours. And at every checkpoint she is questioned why she is traveling alone and asked to bring her male guardian which could be a father, husband or brother. “What I have done wrong, I am traveling to celebrate Eid with my family members and see them, says Bouthaina before sighing.
// soundbite from interview with Bouthaina //
Yemen was already the Arab world’s poorest country when the armed conflict between Yemen´s Saudi-backed government and Iran-support Houthi rebels broke out in 2014. Since then, the civil war, a pandemic and chronic food shortages have shattered the country and exacerbated the difficulties facing Yemeni women. Women’s access to necessary health care is difficult, their movement is restricted and women remain significantly underrepresented in public and elected office and hold minimal leadership roles in national and local peace agreements, according to the United Nations Development Program UNDP. In 2021, Yemen claimed spot number 155 out of 156 in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, revealing huge gender disparities. Bouthaina is the first woman in her family to complete higher education. She works in the humanitarian field but has in recent time been subject to harsh criticism and even violence in her community that has limited her ability to speak and move freely. She speaks about a radically changed environment for women in Yemen.
// soundbite from interview with Bouthaina //
There are campaigns these days against women who do humanitarian work, who move around town without a male guardian or traveling on her own, says Bouthaina. At the moment we are seeing how old tradition and ancient beliefs are used to justify actions like this, they weigh stronger than civil and Islamic law continues Bouthaina.
// soundbite from interview with Bouthaina //
Rodaina, an English teacher and manager living in the capital Sanaa says she can’t do much these days without the consent of a male guardian. She traces the worsening situation for women in Yemen back to 2014 when the armed conflict broke out. In particular, she blames the Houthi rebels for repressing women, curtailing their movement and blocking women from taking on political roles. Before the war, Yemeni women staged anti-government protests and were heavily involved in Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference (NDC), a transitional dialogue process aimed at reconciling rivalling movements in Yemen and spurring peace in the country. In its outcome document, the National Dialogue Conference adopted a 30% inclusion quota for women in all Yemeni government positions, as well as delegations and committees. But around 2015, calls started being put out to restrict women’s movement and their participation in public and political life, says Rodaina. Today, Yemeni women cannot engage in peacemaking efforts, participate in conferences or take on political roles. We can’t do anything without a male guardian, she continues.
// soundbite from interview with Rodaina //
Even just publishing a photo of yourself on social media could come with a heavy price in conservative communities. Nour, a 30-year old Arabic teacher and women’s rights activist in central Iraq has experienced that first-hand. When she put up pictures of herself on social media she began receiving threats from people in her neighbourhood. They asked her how she dared putting those pictures of herself online. The situation got so bad to the point that Nour felt she had to leave her conservative neighbourhood. “These kinds of neighbourhoods adhere to a sort of tribal and religious system where it’s socially unacceptable to publish pictures of yourself as a woman. Women should be at home in this community. I broke the social rules and beliefs of the community when I published the pictures, says Nour.
// soundbite from interview with Nour //
Today, Nour is living in a different area where she is not subject to harassment or threats for her activism. She hopes to see more women in political roles in Iraq and that women are granted more legal rights and protection. Just like Yemen, Iraq ranks at the very bottom of gender gap indexes. In 2021, Iraq came in at spot number 154 of 156 in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, indicating massive gender disparities. Women´s suffering is widespread in Iraqi workplaces, Nour continues, as there are no unions or syndicates that work to promote the rights of women. There is an absence of the rule of law. Women are being repressed because they simply demand their rights and this stalls peace in Iraq, says Nour.
// soundbite from interview with Nour //
Mona, a 50-year old woman living in southern Iraq has fought many battles in her work promoting women’s rights in her conservative home village and in her job as a journalist. But social taboos have still affected this pioneer advocate for women’s rights and equality. Aside from facing difficulties when wanting to travel as a journalist, Mona says she had to quit her big passion: engaging in poetry readings and performing street poetry due to verbal abuse and aggressive reactions from people in her conservative town.
// soundbite from interview with Mona //
Despite the harsh difficulties these women face in demanding their right to access to public and political life in their communities, the women interviewed for this podcast continue the fight. In the next episode of this podcast, we hear more about the activist efforts they have undertaken to overcome social taboos and demand more access to public and political life. In the meantime, Bouthaina, the 32-year old humanitarian worker in Yemen, emphasises the importance of not giving up, even under the hardest of circumstances which her country is currently going through. I encourage all women in Yemen not to give up and not to stop the fight, we have to remain fighters until the last breath,” says Bouthaina.
// soundbite from interview with Bouthaina //
