The Legal Reforms of Local Councils and the Enhancement of Women’s Contribution in Yemen
May 15^th, 2006, Sanaa

CAWTAR’s partner the Sisters Forum for Human Rights organized a national roundtable which was attended by 85 participants representing local councils, political parties, civil society organizations, women associations and the media.

Amel Basha, the Chairperson of the Sister’s Forum, welcomed participants and illustrated the objective of the roundtable: to discuss the findings of the Forum’s study on the Centrality of Decentralized Local Councils and the Centrality of the Marginalization of Women in the Center and Local Administrations commissioned by CAWTAR under its regional project on Arab Women and Local Governance. The main objective of the study is that without legislative reforms, the democratization of local administration is largely unattainable.

Dr. Saqaf, the author of this paper, demonstrated the obstacles facing women's participation in local governance.  With respect to women's participation in leading decision-making positions, he highlighted the low percentage of women in the national assembly, and their  designation  in positions of social affairs compared to other Arab countries where women are appointed as minister of economic affairs, as in Emirates. At the local level, he noted the election of women in social conservative ridings. Accordingly, he considered the need for legislative reforms of the elections law to integrate the quota system. Finally he referred to women's caliber among the membership of the political party in power.  However, their ability to make decisions is limited.

The participants reflected on Dr. Saqaf's presentation. They called upon differentiation between the theory and practice and that the laws in favor of gender equality are in place but their application is limited. Therefore, it is important to consider the question of culture which intersects the enforcement of these laws.

Dr. Abdelhafiz presented his study on women in local councils in Yemen which covered the obstacles facing female candidates during the 2001 elections. These obstacles are in relation to the funding of their campaigns and the social attacks of their candidacy.  He raised that due to the  exclusive control of the  executive powers, the legislature has limited powers over monitoring the implementation  of laws  which run against the grain of separation of power in general and the  ideals of the local administration laws in particular. In addition, the language used in the Constitution is gender blind although in the Quraan, its main source; there is a clear distinction when reference is made to men and women.  He noted that their is a need for procedures to permit women participation in decision-making  in local councils  as their meetings are presently held in houses of counselors and it is thus difficult for women to attend. 

The participants considered the need for a comprehensive reform of the legislation and the powers of local councils as presently these councils are weak and it is difficult to envision women’s role therein.

The main points raised by participants were:

•  There is a need to examine the question of corruption in local councils and administrations, a critical problem facing appropriate decentralization of powers.
•  Transformation of discriminatory social practices and the traditional mentality of Yemeni society.
•  The political parties in the opposition disregard the quota when putting pressure on the government.
•  The legislation conditions that candidates in local elections should be conservative, a clear discriminatory issue.
•  Legislative reforms are pointless if not linked with social and political ones.
•  There is a need to revise the system of decentralization as devolution of powers is undemocratic, typical of the example of the political appointment of provisional counselors.
•  There is a need to reform the delivery of services at the local levels as presently it is poor and reflect the  citizen's motivations and interest to participate in political activities.
•  They call upon a campaign to address the problems of tribalism in political representation, a major challenge for women to equally represent different segments of Yemeni society.
•  The capacities of Yemeni women should be enhanced to present themselves as capable candidates.
•  The study should elaborate more on the political parties in the opposition towards women candidacy in local elections.
•  There is a need for legislative reforms relating to the quota.

Finally, the participants concluded that legislative reforms are necessary but to be viable there is a need to address the social and political dynamics which persist to undermine the role of Yemeni women in decision-making, elections and leadership.