Yemen: The treatment of widowed women who are without male protection; the treatment of ethnic minority women who are without male protection, particularly women of Vietnamese descent

The following information, dated 1 November 2001, was provided by a scholar on Yemen, in particular Yemeni law, who is associated with the Free University of Berlin, Germany.

Relevant Yemeni legislation (particularly the Personal Status Law 20/1992 as amended in 1998 and 1999), do not openly discriminate against women without male relatives but against women in general.

Under the Personal Status Law, no woman can contract her own marriage, regardless of her nationality, age, educational and previous marital status. A male relative, or in his absence, a court, has to contract on her behalf. To document the absence of a male relative can be arduous, especially if the woman is of foreign descent; I have witnessed the case of a thirty-eight year old Iraqi woman wishing to marry an Iraqi national in Yemen who had to bring a letter of her father/brother in Iraq saying that they agree to the marriage but were not available to contract her marriage in Yemen.

Not regulated by law, but by ministerial decree, women are also discriminated against in obtaining a passport: again, they need male authorization. However, the degree of enforcement of this provision might vary; if a woman does not have male relatives, and can document that, it is most likely that she would be issued a passport and other identification papers.

Custody rules similarly also discriminate against women; in the case of a widow, relatives of the deceased husband can (and often do) claim transfer of custody to them once the children have reached a certain age. Apart from her share in her husband's estate, any outstanding portion of the dowry (an obligatory marital gift from the husband to the wife often divided in two parts, one payable at marriage, one upon divorce/death) and maintenance for a couple of months after her husband's death, a widow has no claims on her husband's property; children however do have claims on maintenance from their father's estate even if they remain in the mother's custody. There are credible accounts of widows being cheated out of their inheritance rights by the deceased's relatives, particularly in farming communities (however, there are also accounts of women being cheated out of their inheritance by her own natal family). Especially in lower class families, relatives of a deceased often attempt to have custody withdrawn from a widow, so they would not need to pay for child maintenance.

Theoretically, women without male relatives have the same access to police and other bureaucracies, and to the courts; and I have personally witnessed many women without male relatives taking up their lot in court, on issues of inheritance, child custody and maintenance payments. However, this is not to say that their lot is not a hard one and very arduous socially. It is not unlikely that representatives of various bureaucracies will tell a woman without male relatives to bring one – or even her son, regardless of his age - to vouch for her, to identify her if she has no I.D., to act on her behalf, or to authorize her actions. This holds particularly true if the woman is not educated or belongs to an ethnic minority, such as Yemeni-Vietnamese or Yemeni-African.

The effect of this type of bureaucratic action is discriminatory against women without male relatives; however, the intent might not be, but rather a very widespread tendency of Yemeni bureaucracies to procrastinate, to make simple things difficult in the hope of eliciting bribes etc.

As to freedom of movement, there are no legal restrictions on widows: many women, especially among the lower classes, do regularly leave their houses during the day by themselves, indeed have to, to make a living. However, there is no doubt that they run counter to the modern social ideal that women should either not be in need to leave the house since they have somebody to provide for them, or that they should leave the house accompanied by male or, if unavailable, female relatives.

To sum up, whereas widows are not discriminated against in a targeted fashion by law or practice, a widow's quality of life can be rather miserable, especially if she is poor and uneducated; in that case she lacks the most important resources which might mitigate gender segregation and discrimination against women, that is money, education, and males (particularly husband, father, brother and uncles) providing for her.

According to a professor of political science at the University of Richmond who has researched extensively the situation of women in Yemen, unless they are very well educated, women who have no male relatives to represent them in court or with bureaucracies have "serious problems" (22 Oct. 2001). The professor also stated that "Vietnamese in general suffer discrimination, and Vietnamese women are viewed with perhaps special disdain (sexual innuendo)" (ibid.). Additionally, not being conversant in Arabic could also pose an obstacle for such a woman who, under such circumstances, could have "no rights whatsoever" (ibid.).

For further information on women in Yemen please refer to YEM37694.E of 24 September 2001, YEM36894.E of 26 April 2001, and YEM36387.E of 7 March 2001.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Professor of Political Science. University of Richmond, Richmond, VA. 22 October 2001. Correspondence.

Scholar on Yemen. Free University of Berlin. 1 November 2001. Correspondence.

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

Women's International Network News

Yemen Human Rights Guard. Human Rights Violations in the Republic of Yemen, 1998 and 1999

Oral sources:

Unsuccessful attempts to contact Forum for Civil Society, Yemen

The American Institute for Yemeni Studies was unable to provide information

Two academic sources were unable to provide information

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

Arab Women Connect

BBC

CNN

Derechos

Division for the Advancement of Women

European Country of Origin Information Network

Human Rights Internet

Human Rights Watch

United Nations Commission on Human Rights

United Nations News

Women's Rights Network

World News Connection

Yemen Daily

Yemen Gateway

Yemen Times