This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Aberdeen chapter.

Since 2014 Yemen has faced what the UN call’s the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. After an uprising in 2011, its long-standing authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, relinquished his power to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. However, Hadi’s inability to maintain stability after Saleh’s removal contributed to widespread dissatisfaction.

Conflict started when the Houthi rebels, a Shiite group from northern Yemen, seized the nation’s capital, Sana’a, and forced out Hadi’s government. The Houthi’s were opposed to President Hadi’s government due to things like social and economic marginalisation. Eventually, this led to military intervention in 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition, which aimed to restore Hadi’s government. Despite repeated attempts at ceasefires and peace talks, the situation remains unresolved, with the country on the edge of total collapse.

Within the 10 years of the Yemeni civil war, women have faced unparalleled challenges. The conflict has left many women widows, leaving them as the sole breadwinners who must provide food and care in their homes. However, this becomes incredibly difficult when they must struggle with the limited access to food, water, sanitation and health care – which has seen a steady deterioration as the conflict continues. As difficult as this already is, the authorities across Yemen are increasingly restricting women’s freedom of movement, creating a horrendous impact on women’s lives. In 2022, According to the Gender Inequality Index (GII), Yemen was the least gender equal country in the world.

Since the war, Houthi authorities in northern Yemen began requiring women to be accompanied by a male relative while travelling, or to at least have written consent. In the south, while there has been no reported government guidance that requires a woman to travel with a male relative, an unchaperoned woman faces increased risks of harassment and humiliation at checkpoints. According to Mwatana for Human Rights, a Yemeni human rights organisation, since 2017 the Houthi’s have also infringed upon women’s access to reproductive health care. The International Rescue Committee stated, “Lifesaving and urgent services, including [those] for sexual and reproductive health, the treatment of sexual violence related injuries, and the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, cannot reach women and girls who need them.” The Houthi’s have also increasingly imposed requirements on women’s dress, requiring women’s clothing shops to only sell long, black abayas. They have also banned most women from the workplace as well as many public places, including cafes and restaurants.

The increase of restrictions on women’s movement has also limited their access to education, as many women in Yemen must travel to larger cities like Aden, Taizz, and Sana’a to get to university. These barriers have led to a decline in female enrolment in universities and has limited women’s participation in higher education, perpetuating the cycle of gender inequality.

Women in Yemen are far from free, as their rights and freedoms are severely restricted. Yemen’s deeply established patriarchal norms limit women’s freedoms in nearly all aspects of life, with the country being one of the worst in the world for gender equality. The ongoing civil war has worsened the restrictions faced by women, preventing them from accessing education and employment opportunities, and intensifying the dependence on male relatives. In conflict zones, they are particularly vulnerable to violence and abuse, with limited recourse for justice. While some women are fighting for their rights through activism and peace talks, their efforts are often threatened and violently repressed, making true freedom for Yemeni women a distant goal.

Are Women Truly Free? Ch. 1 – The Situation in Yemen

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