women

After eight years of absence from Yemen and my hometown of Sana’a, I decided to travel home, longing to see my family and loved ones after a long separation enforced by the war. The flight from Amman took three-and-a-half hours, landing in Aden in the early hours of the morning. My older brother came to pick me up and accompany…

Early one summer morning, Mohammed stood among his grove of qat trees in a village south of the capital Sana’a in Sanhan district. Two local men, who work as Mohammed’s mubazigheen (pickers), were busy harvesting qat, plucking leaves, and placing them in plastic shopping bags. Every so often, Mohammed would step in to help, hiking up his crisp white thobe…

The past year has been one of extreme consequence for Yemen. The war has entered a new phase of low-level violence and economic warfare. Casualties are down since a truce was signed in April, and have remained relatively low even after its acrimonious expiration in October. The internationally recognized government has sworn in a new executive body, but it has…

In conflict zones, peacebuilding processes are often driven by the binary framing of victim and perpetrator. Peacebuilding within such a narrative is mainly about securing truces like those being strung together in Yemen today, ending an ongoing militarized war or signing a peace agreement. In the context of Yemen, there is also a tendency by the international community to localize and reduce the conflict, emphasizing it solely as a civil war while disregarding the roles of many countries involved that…

Women have only ever made up a fraction of the business community in Aden, and in 2015 – when Houthi forces and their allies invaded the southern city and spurred a regional intervention to liberate it – their share declined dramatically. While precise numbers are hard to come by, anecdotal evidence points to a rapid decline: Dr. Kulthum Nasser, head…

As the war in Yemen enters its seventh year, the situation appears bleak and opportunities for peace grow fewer by the day. Amid the country’s fragmentation, the emergence of de-facto authorities and the almost complete absence of the state, local communities must rely on themselves to maintain peace. In this context, tribes have emerged as a decisive factor in maintaining…

This paper aims to shed light on the role of advocacy campaigns in building a cooperative social infrastructure to solve local issues and promote peace. It examines how and under what circumstances Hadramawt Women for Peace was able to coordinate an effective advocacy campaign. The paper discusses the closing of the airport, studies the campaign’s work and programs, and examines the social context of the campaign. The paper also highlights the difficulties and challenges faced by the women’s advocacy campaign…

This report examines some of the women-led entities that have emerged amid conflict, from large-scale prominent networks such as the Women’s Pact for Peace and Security and the Women’s Solidarity Network, to local-level initiatives such as Hadramawt Women for Peace, a group of eight women who successfully advocated to reopen a key road, and, briefly, Al-Riyan airport. It also looks at women-led organizations such as the Marib Girls Foundation, which encourages the participation of women and young people in peacebuilding…